Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light
by RyouGirl
Summary: The Kingdom Hearts Story of Sora and his friends including some new characters who will join forces to stop Ansem and his rein of darkness. Appointed by King Mickey, they are known as the Warriors of Light.
1. Dark Intentions

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Dark Intentions- Chapter 1

Music played as it echoed around the walls, filling the gigantic Ballroom with sweet sounds. All around people danced and laughed as they frolicked together at the Hallow Bastion Ball. The candles that illuminated the ceiling made the scene like a dream.

"Hey Kita, I was wondering where you were," said a young boy from behind one of the towering marble columns.

"Ti-Day, you scared me," Kita responded, as she was caught off guard by Ti-Day's voice.

Ti-Day was a young wizard who had lived all his life in Hallow Bastion just as Kita had. He was dressed in navy blue jacket and black pantaloons. He was tall for his age, with brown hair that stuck out at all angles under the old hat he usually wore. It really was a disgraceful hat for such a ball, but it seemed to travel on his head no matter where he went or what he did. "Where have you been?" He asked. "I've been looking all over for you."

Kita was the young princess of Hallow Bastion. Tonight she wore a long flowing, pale-blue gowned. She was the daughter of Ansem, the King, and looked so remarkably like him with her snow-white hair and soft smooth skin. The only true difference was that Ansem's eyes were orange, and Kita's eyes were pink. She could only guess that her mother had pink eyes, as she had never met her before. All she knew of her mother was that she left as soon as Kita was born, but why, she did not know. "Actually I've been looking for someone myself," Kita explained.

"Who?" said Ti-Day. "I don't see why this would be so important. It's just a Ball after all."

"Someone is here from another world," Kita explained. And I have a feeling it's a bad sign. Ever since that King Mickey came here, my father's been hunting someone down, and I just know this Ball is the welcome party he's thrown in their honor. Or more like a distraction from his true intentions…"

"Well do you mind sharing with me what you're up to, or am I going to have to stand here clueless?" Ti-Day asked growing impatient.

"Ni-Ne Nite," Kita said. "Her name is Ni-Ne Nite. I just know she's here, and I have to find her as soon as possible."

"So what's the big deal?" asked Ti-Day, still not sure what to think.

"She's half heartless," Kita stated. "She comes from some other world. King Mickey must have told my father about her, and he was extremely eager to meet her in person. He's been way too into this darkness stuff lately. I'm afraid he's going to be conducting experiments soon. I don't even want to think about what he plans to do."

"Heartless? I thought that was some sort of myth," said Ti-Day. "She's really heartless?"

"Yes Ti-Day, now are you going to help me or not?" Kita said in an agitated voice. The only help he had given her so far was stalling her in her mission to find Ni-Ne Nite. She began looking everywhere her head could turn searching for a person she had never seen before.

"Any idea what she looks like?" Ti-Day asked, now seeming more willing to help than stall.

"No, but being from another world, she can't be too friendly with everyone can she?" Kita reasoned. "I'd bet she's sitting somewhere alone, or if we're unlucky, my father's already gotten to her."

"Lets split up, we'll cover more ground that way," Ti-Day suggested. "I'll do my best Kita." And as he finished his sentence, Ti-Day walked off through a crowd of people who where busy enjoying themselves at the Ball.

Kita continued her frantic search, growing ever more worried that King Ansem had managed to find Ni-Ne before, she had. As she walked around the huge ballroom, in and out of archways and around the grand staircase, she finally spotted a shadowy figure amidst the golden statues that lined the upper story of the ballroom. She was wearing the costume of a fallen angel, truly hidden by the dark passage she was standing in. Kita quickly started to make her way up the long staircase. She continued to look over making sure not to lose sight of the girl. But as she climbed the stairs, a tall, dark-skinned figure with long white flowing hair had appeared there in the shadowy passageway. It was too late. Ansem stood towering over Ni-Ne in height taking her arm and peacefully leading her away through a near by door.

"No," Kita said under her breath. She picked up the pace in an attempt to catch the pair. She had an idea of where they might be headed, but if her father was as clever as she had known him to be, he would certainly have found a way not to be interrupted. Kita walked through the same door, continuing on through the library that was on the other side. There was a hidden doorway behind one of the shelves she had known about for sometime. There was suppose to be a platform that was connected to an electronic track that lead to the secret place where her father spent so much of his time anymore. But the platform was gone. Kita's heart was racing. The platform traveled so slowly, Ni-Ne was sure to be stuck with Ansem for a good amount of time. Kita used this time to tear the length from her dress so she could run at full speed without worrying about it being in the way. Then all she could do was pace the spot until the platform returned and she could ride to the spot and get Ni-Ne out of there.

After what seemed like hours, the platform finally returned. It was empty. Kita started jumping up and down as though it would make the platform return sooner than it could. When at last it docked where Kita stood, she jumped on so fast the entire platform shook. She hit the button that started it up so hard, I nearly busted. The ride to the secret lab that Ansem had established was terribly slow. So much time had passed… and what had come of Ni-Ne Nite?

At long last the platform reached its destination. Kita leapt off before it had even docked as she was in a race against time. The door lied just ahead. She ran as fast as she could and with all her energy hit the door. It was locked. Kita fell backwards onto the stone floor and slammed her fists hard on the ground in frustration. "NO!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. And then a high-pitched scream came from the other side of the door. It was accompanied by the sound of smashing glass and the sound of a chair breaking against the door. Kita got up again and started running at the door and slamming full force into it trying desperately to get it open.

Since she was only bruising herself, she had to think of something new. She looked all around for any idea as to how to get the door open. At last she spotted a loose brick in the wall and went to pry it out. When the brick came free, she took it back to the door and started hammering as the hinges with it. After at least 15 minutes of putting all her strength and energy into knocking out the hinges, the door caved in forward just enough for Kita to squeeze through. She climbed in to meet a horrible scene before her eyes.

The first thing that came into sight was a young girl with messy dark brown hair. Her hands were strapped to a metal table under the only light in the dark room. She was sitting on the floor in a pool of what must have been her own blood. Her arm suggested that she had been cut deeply. Kita now noticed that her father was nowhere to be found. Most of the room was in shadow other than the single spot of light coming from a hole in the ceiling. Kita stepped in slowly, expecting Ansem to jump out at her from any angle. "I know you're here," she said, trying to see if he would answer. "Come out and tell me why you're doing this father."

"Since when has my daughter become so interested in what her father does?" asked a cold, dark voice from the shadows.

"What you're doing, it isn't right," Kita answered the voice of Ansem. "Why are you doing this?" Kita continued to move slowly into the room. She was moving cautiously towards Ni-Ne with the intent of setting her free before Ansem made his move. It was impossible to tell where he was, which gave Kita the sense of fear.

Then Ansem finally spoke again. "You do not understand the great power of the darkness. I alone have discovered it's true essence. I will be the one to inherit its greatness and I will rule over all the worlds with my army of heartless." As he spoke, Kita could hear his footsteps all around her. She couldn't tell where he was because the chamber echoed so much. He continued with his speech with evil laugher. "With this half heartless blood, I will begin to create the heartless and they will consume this world, and then all the other worlds after that. It's nearly ready now."

"You're sick," Kita said out of pure disgust. "I'll see to it that you don't get away with it!" And as she said this she slashed Ni-Ne's bonds and Ni-Ne fled for the door at full speed. Ansem made a disappointed grunt as he revealed himself from the shadows. Kita's first instinct was to hold him back assuring that Ni-Ne would get away. As he appeared, she noticed he was holding an injection needle in his hand that was filled with a bubbling black liquid. Kita backed away, afraid of what he was intending to do with it. She underestimated his reach as he grabbed her arm and pulled her in close.

"My dear, how fitting that my own daughter will be the first of the heartless," Ansem said grasping Kita's arm so tightly that he was hurting her.

"No! Please no!" Kita screamed trying with what little strength she had left to get away. But it didn't work. The next thing she knew the needle stabbed her arm with such force she was sure it was tearing her skin. The searing pain was unbearable. In a matter of seconds Kita began to black out as Ansem let go of her arm and she fell to the floor.


	2. The Dream

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

The Dream- Chapter 2

"Sora!" shouted a boy in the distance, running towards the cliff hut that Sora lived in. It was Riku fast approaching to check in on the raft's progress and the list of supplies.

"Riku, what's up?" Sora replied. "I've finished the list of supplies we'll need before we go. Did you bring the sail for the raft?"

"Yeah, I just picked it up. Hurry up and get dressed so we can go meet Kairi," Riku said, as he and Sora prepared to head out for a days work on preparing their raft. The two friends were very close. Kairi had come to the island only a few years back from a world unknown. The three of them were planning to make a raft so that they could sail away from Destiny Island and discover new worlds.

Destiny Island was a small tropical island that was inhabited by the Islanders. Riku, Sora and Kairi were just a few of the residence who found nothing better to do than run through the white sand and swim in the clear blue ocean that surrounded them. The tall cliffs were strong and provided to be a good place for houses. Each a small cozy cubby imbedded in the rock wall that kept the inhabitants safe and dry from the rising tides. Sora had finished dressing and grabbing the list of supplies for the journey, he jumped right out of his bedroom window onto a tree vine and slid down to the sand.

"Come on, you don't want to keep the lady waiting," Riku said jokingly. He was a 15-year-old boy with white hair that made his tan look incredibly dark. His eyes were an electric blue that reflecting his powerful personality. Though one may expect him to be shy, he was quite the outgoing type. He was a true adventurer.

Sora was a 14 years old boy with brown hair that stuck out at every angle and his deep blue eyes where impossible not to notice. He was strong, yet a bit unsure of himself, perhaps just feeling second to his pal Riku. He was fond of Kairi, the pretty island girl, and Riku knew it.

"Hey you two, I've been waiting here awhile," Kairi shouted to the boys as they ran towards her. Kairi was 14 like Sora. She had dark red hair that fell just beyond her chin. Her eyes were the same deep blue as Sora's. It was probably because of Kairi that the trio decided to leave the island in an attempt to search for Kairi's real home. Not even she knew where she came from, but Riku and Sora were more than willing to help her find that world.

"Hey Kairi, how are you?" Sora asked with sweetness in his voice.

"I'm doing alright," Kairi said with a smile.

"Sorry we left you here so long. Sora was having a dream about you and I had to snap him out of it as he didn't realize his alarm had gone off twice already," Riku laughed.

"Riku!" Sora shouted hitting Riku's arm hard. Sora started blushing.

"I was only kidding," Riku explained. He liked to take advantage of this crush that Sora had on Kairi in every practical way. "Lets get busy, tomorrow's the day we cast off, and we've got lots to do."

So the three of them got busy putting the sail on the raft as that was the only thing they had ready to go in front of them. Once the sail was attached, they split up to find the supplies to bring back to the raft before the day was over. Sora and Kairi later met up in the secret cave as Kairi was having trouble spotting mushrooms in the dark, musty cave.

"Oh, I think I see a few over here Kairi," Sora said as his voice echoed around the cave.

"You're really good at this Sora," I guess I'm not as good as spotting things in the dark as I used to be," Kairi explained.

"Hey, look, this is where we drew on the wall when we were littler," Sora said spotting the drawings engraved in the stone. "Sorry I made you look so much like Riku Kairi," Sora said laughing at his old interpretation of Kairi.

"That's alright, you look something like a lion Sora," Kairi laughed seeing her drawing on the wall. It had been so long since they had sat there etching each other into the wall, and somehow it felt like only yesterday. "You know, I'm really going to miss being here on the island with you two. I mean what if I do find my old home, and what if they want me to stay? I'd really miss this place and all the memories."

"Well, we'd see each other again, I'm sure of it," Sora explained. "What kind of friends would we be if we just headed back and never spoke to you again?"

"You're so nice Sora," Kairi said with a sweet little smile on her face. She leaned in close to Sora and kissed him on the cheek. Sora went beat red. He'd never been kissed by Kairi before, or by anyone for that matter. "Come on, we need to get a move on if we want to be ready on time!" Kairi said bringing Sora back to earth.

It was nightfall already and the three had only just finished the preparations for the next day's journey. They all sat looking up at the stars as a last goodbye to Destiny Island. They sat in a row under the Papua fruit tree reminiscing on the days they had spent dreaming of other worlds and realizing that tomorrow their dream would become a reality. Before long, they each realized how tired they were and that it was probably a good idea to get some sleep before dawn. Each of them headed home to their own cubby houses and climbed into bed to drift into the last sleep they would sleep on Destiny Island.

Riku found himself walking towards a light out of the fog. Next he found himself in a room that was quite dim other than a light directly above what looked like a tank of water. But as Riku slowly approached the tank, still trying to figure out where he was, he realized there was a body in the water. A girl with white hair wrapped in a white cloth was strapped to the bottom of the tank. Riku couldn't help but lean in for a closer look. Slowly he examined every angle of the tank. There seemed to be no way that air was getting to the person inside, so he presumed her dead. Riku found himself leaning in over the water to see if he could recognize the girl through the water. He leaned in so close that his nose nearly touched the surface.

And then without warning the girl's eyes shot open. Riku jerked his head back out of shock. He was now staring into a pair of solid black eyes. The girl's eyes were all black where there should have been color or white, or something. It was as though she had no eyes at all, but merely sockets. The girl's head moved as she followed Riku's figure, and Riku realized she knew he was there. The expression on the girl's face was starting to tense as though in seconds she was getting angrier and angrier. Her arms began to tense up as well and she made fists that caused her veins to stick out of her skin. Riku could only back away as he felt she was growing an urge to pop out of the tank and murder him.

Without warning the girl went limp again and her eyes closed and she was just as unconscious as when Riku had first arrived. He cautiously made his way back to the tank to observe what had happened. As he placed but one hand upon the side of the tank, the girls eyes opened again, but this time they were normal eyes, pink in color. She suddenly looked as though she couldn't breath and began shaking violently in an attempt to free herself from her bonds. Riku watched, stun struck, unsure of what to do as he watched her struggle for life. The girl continued her fight with the restraints, her eyes now under so much stress they could have popped right out of her face.

Riku couldn't take watching anymore. He reached into the tank as fast as he could and unbuckled the belts that held the girl down. With great difficulty he finally managed to get the restraint over her chest free so that she could sit up. With a huge rush, the girl broke the surface of the water causing a huge wave of water to rise with her. She gasped so loudly for air, it was near the volume of a scream. But as she did this, she also coughed and began to vomit water out of her mouth. Riku stood a safe distance away, not sure what the girl would do next.

As though time was slowing down, the girl had finally caught her breath and stared down at the water while her wet hanging hair hid parts of her face. She very slowly turned her head to look over at Riku standing to the side. Her eyes were the normal pink that looked human, but her stare was highly expressionless. Riku stared back at her without saying a word. As he stared, the scene began to fade out and suddenly Riku sat up in his own bed, back on Destiny Island.

"Hey Riku, you look beat. Didn't you get any sleep?" Sora asked, scurrying to secure all the supplies to the raft.

"Yeah, I just had a weird dream," Riku replied, not even sure of what he was saying. "Just a nightmare, that's all."

"What about?" asked Kairi, always curious about what was troubling someone.

"Well, I'm not even sure," Riku began. "I was in a dark room with a tank. And there was a girl in the tank. I thought she was dead, but it was like watching a monster come to life the way she suddenly was staring at me. And then she started to drown. So I freed her from the tank. It doesn't make sense, I know, but that was my dream."

"You were probably just so excited about traveling to a new world, your thoughts weren't clear, so you had a weird dream," Sora tried to explain, not even sure himself.

"Yeah, but it was so real. I swear my hands were still wet when woke up," Riku said, finding it hard to believe himself.

"Don't worry too much about it," Kairi said, trying to play doctor. "Like Sora said, it's probably nothing. It was pretty hot last night, your hands may have just been sweaty."

"Yeah, whatever," Riku said, not feeling much comforted by his friends thoughts.

They worked together to make the time pass more quickly in securing all the supplies and double-checking to make sure they had everything. "Well I think that's everything," Sora said, feeling a triumph in all they had established. "I'd say it's time to kiss Destiny Island goodbye and set off for the unknown." So the three of them pushed the raft into the water, all feeling a sense of excitement and butterflies in the stomach. "All right, finally!" Sora claimed, acting captain of the raft. "Here we-!"

"Hang on!" Riku said suddenly jumping off the raft and treading through the shallow water back to shore. "We can't leave without a Papua fruit for you two love birds to share on the journey!"

"Riku!" Sora said, starting to blush a bright shade of red. He glanced over at Kairi only to see her giggle at him.

"What the," Riku said spotting something strange on the ground. He shouted back to Sora and Kairi so they could come take a look at what he had found behind the Papua tree. "Hey Sora, Kairi, come here! What is this thing!"

"What now?" Sora said jumping off the raft to drag it back to shore. He reached out for Kairi's hand to help her off the raft without having to step into the water. Kairi took his hand with a smile and a hint of a blush in her cheeks. The two of them hurried over to join Riku to see what it was that was so important. What they saw was hard to believe.

"What is that?" Riku asked again. It appeared to be a swirling black mass. It was so dark, but there was something mesmerizing about it. Every once in a while it would light up with a purple streak of lightening, but just remained to be some mysterious black hole in the ground.

"I don't know, but it kind of reminds me of a portal," Kairi said, sharing the only idea she had of what it could be. Riku started to lean in towards it and reached out his hand to touch it.

"Riku! What are you thinking? You don't know what it is," Sora said, sounding like a real mother.

"Well someone's going to find it sooner or later, might as well figure out what it does, or if it's even safe," Riku reasoned as he was far too brave to take Sora's words of advice seriously.

"Careful Riku," Kairi said, sounding as though she was scared of what may happen.

Riku reached out his hand again to touch the black mass that was so unexplainable. As soon as his fingers came in contact with it, the darkness began to spread up his arm quickly. Sora and Kairi stepped back as the dark substance started to consume Riku from head to toe.

"Riku!" Sora shouted, pushing Kairi back a safe distance as he went to grab Riku by the arm. But the darkness only began to spread across his body as well. "Riku, come on! Fight it off!" But Sora was finding this difficult himself as the darkness swirled around and around gluing itself to his skin.

Kairi was crying now as she watched her two best friends get eaten by an unknown dark mass. "Sora! Riku!" She screamed hopelessly. But not even she was safe as the mass began to expand on the spot. It spread across the ground consuming everything it came in contact with.

"Run Kairi!" Sora shouted, still hanging onto Riku tightly. Kairi turned to run, but the darkness was spreading too fast and it caught her, knocked her down and swallowed her whole. "NOOO!" Sora shouted watching Kairi disappear. When he turned back to Riku to tighten his grip, he noticed Riku too had disappeared into nothingness. When he looked up, he noticed that everything around him was gone. There was nothing but black in sight. The land, the sky, all of Destiny Island was gone. Sora felt as though he were falling into a dark abyss. His eyes closed as he fell deeper and deeper into darkness.


	3. Call of the Warriors

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Call of the Warriors- Chapter 3

King Mickey and Queen Minnie had been sitting in their throne room for so many hours and the sun had yet to rise. Sometime in the middle of the night they had been given the disturbing news about all the worlds vanishing into darkness and people everywhere swallowed up into nothingness. There wasn't much they could do, for they had no idea how to control it, but luckily visitors from other worlds had come to the Magic Kingdom willing to help.

"King Mickey? There's some visitors here to see ya. They say they came from worlds that vanished," Goofy informed his Majesty the King.

"Send them in Goofy," Mickey requested. Upon his command, the doors at the front of the throne room opened. One of the Kings servants, Donald Duck led the way as a young man and a lion cub came following after. Donald stepped aside when the three of them had reached the thrones. The young man, tall with a muscular build and red hair and the lion cub, covered in golden fur bent down in respects to the King.

"Who might you be?" King Mickey questioned.

"I'm Hercules," the young man said. "I've come from the world of Olympus looking for help because everyone's disappeared from my world."

"And I'm Simba," the lion cub cut in. "I've come from the Pride Lands. There's no one left in my world either."

"And you've come here for my help?" King Mickey asked.

"Well, we don't know what's going on, but we've lost those close to us and were wondering if we could assist in getting to the bottom of this problem so we can find our families again," Hercules explained.

"I see," said King Mickey sounding a bit doubtful. He didn't know what was going on either. "Well we've been trying to conclude who's behind this all morning, but so far no luck. So, I'm sorry guys."

"But we've got to find them!" Simba shouted from the floor. "Nala's missing, I can't just forget about her. She could be in real danger!"

"I'm afraid as of now, there's nothing we can do," King Mickey tried to explain. "Until we can figure out what's going on, it's too dangerous for even you to leave this world."

"King Mickey?" Goofy interrupted.

"What is it Goofy?" replied King Mickey sounding a bit defeated.

"There's a girl here to see you," Goofy said. Together everyone in the room looked towards the doors at the front of the room and saw standing there a young girl with vibrant pick eyes and snow-white hair.

"Hello?" King Mickey said, as he was caught off guard by her presence.

"King Mickey I presume?" the girl said as she made her way towards the throne.

"Yes?" King Mickey replied. "Who are you?"

"The name's Kita," she said. "I am the daughter of King Ansem, ruler of Hallow Bastion. You've met him before?"

"Ah, yes, I have," King Mickey remembered. "Has your world vanished as well?"

"No, but it might has well," Kita said sounding irritated. "The darkness is growing fast and people are dieing left and right. The entire world is falling apart."

"I recall sharing with Ansem how to travel from world to world," King Mickey said. "He must have shared with you this information or else you couldn't be here."

"No, actually it is by fate I am here," Kita said with superiority. "I told you the darkness is growing. Huge black holes appearing out of nowhere just swallowing people. A friend of mine got sucked into one. I thought if I went through it he would be on the other side, but I was here when I emerged."

"Those holes, they were in my world too," Hercules spoke. "The same thing happened to me. I went through one and ended up here."

"You make it sound like a game," Simba said. "Nala got sucked right into one. We were just minding our own business and there it was and it just started pulling on everything around it. And I couldn't catch her in time…" Kita was sure she saw a tear in Simba's eye. It reminded her of the moment she saw Ti-Day fall to the ground and just get vacuumed right into the black hole without any warning at all. An anger was flaring inside Kita and she knew if there was anyway to stop the darkness, she was going to have to find someone to help her fight it.

"My father did it!" Kita shouted making everyone jump. "He's been obsessed with this darkness. He's the one making it grow! Everyone getting sucked into the black holes are becoming heartless. They are lost somewhere where there is no light." Kita's voice was getting shaky.

"How do you know?" King Mickey asked.

"Because I've been there," Kita said in almost a whisper. "My father's gone mad. He even turned me heartless, but it didn't last. He tired to kill me! Me! His own daughter!"

"How terrible!" Queen Minnie spoke sounding scared.

"Gorsh, we've gotta stop him!" Goofy proclaimed.

"That's it, I'm going to Hallow Bastion right now!" Hercules said storming towards the door.

"He's not there," Kita said. "He's been gone for sometime. But not even I know where he's gone to."

"But maybe there are clues," Simba said sounding desperate. "He worked there before he left? Something, anything could lead us to where he is."

"He has a point," King Mickey said as he thought. "I can't leave the Magic Kingdom right now to go looking myself, but the three of you could. Kita, I'll have to teach you how to get back to your world. You should take Hercules and Simba with you."

"Yes your majesty," Kita said truly acknowledging King Mickey as a King.

"Donald? Go find Daisy and have her prepare some battle costumes for our new warriors," King Mickey commanded. "And Goofy, I need you to have the blacksmith make these weapons for them," he said handing Goofy a piece of paper. "In the meantime, I'll have to teach you how to travel from world to world, because by the looks of it, this darkness is covering the entire universe."

King Mickey got up off of his throne to lead the three warriors off to his lab. As they walked behind King Mickey, Hercules wanted to use the opportunity to get to know Kita better.

"So, you come from Hallow Bastion?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah," Kita said in a tone that suggested even she would have known that was obvious by now.

"Well, I think you're pretty," he said daringly. "Was this Ti-Day guy your boyfriend?" Clearly Hercules has struck a nerve. Kita turned on him suddenly.

"The answer's no," she claimed with the look of a killer shark in her eyes. "And if you're thinking of hitting on me, think again cause I've got far more important things to do than fool around with boys." Kita picked up her pace and walked beside King Mickey for a change. Hercules was left dumbstruck, not even sure of what just happened.

"Smooth," Simba added, just to rub it in.

For the remainder of their visit, the three warriors trained for their journey. They learned the way of the gummies that would allow them to travel from world to world easily. They trained to fight heartless as there were sure to be many now in every world. Mickey had made special weapons for each of them to carry to aid them in the fight. For Simba, stainless steal claws for ultimate slashing. For Hercules, the strongest sword metal could make with a sturdy gold handle. And for Kita, a special silver key blade with a pink gold handle.

"Now Kita, you're key blade possesses a magic power," King Mickey explained. "I can't reveal to you what it is, but I can tell you that your heart will show you what it does."

Kita was confused by this, but she accepted it greatly anyway.

"Whenever you put a key chain on it, it will change size and strength," King Mickey explained. "Use it well to defeat this evil that has over come the universe."

"Thank you my King," Kita said. She truly respected King Mickey for all his help more so than her own father who was a King himself.

Daisy had prepared battle costumes that would protect them from the damage that could be inflicted on them physically and magically. Kita's was a sleek skirt and top that was a silvery blue color all over. And her shoes were large, made for running long distances. To show that she worked for King Mickey now, there was a Heart Emblem in the center of her chest with the crown of King Mickey in the center. Hercules had an orange sleeveless shirt with many belts and straps that protected his vital organs. And he wore blue pants that were completed with strong rubber shoes. For Simba, a green necklace that deflected unfriendly spells. The three of them truly looked like warriors now.

"Before you go, I wish to knight you all and wish you the best of luck," King Mickey said as he took his staff and knighted them each upon their shoulders. "I proclaim you from this day forth, the Warriors of Light. Retrieve what you can and bring it back to me so we will know where to start looking for Ansem. The sooner we find him, the sooner we can sort out this huge mess."

"I won't fail you," Kita said sounding like a true warrior princess. She truly desired above all things just to seek out her father and get revenge for what he did, and for the millions of lives that were torn apart because of him. For the pain he had caused to all in every world. She would never rest until he was found. And so the three Warriors of Light set out on their journey to Hallow Bastion.


	4. Separation

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Separation- Chapter 4

"Uggg, I don't think I was cut out for space travel," Simba said staggering out of the Gummi Ship the warrior trio had been traveling in.

"Just remember this is technically my house, so please, no hair balls," Kita said looking at Simba who now seemed to be a shade of green.

"Wow. This is your house?" Hercules asked in awe as he gazed up at the castle of Hallow Bastion. "Nice pipes," he added commenting the countless copper pipes sticking out at strange angles, weaving in and out of windows and bursting through the originally burnt-pink bricks.

"Hey," Kita said in defense. "Those aren't supposed to be there. I told you this place was falling apart. It's even worse than when I left. Must be some kind of strong magic cause I can't even figure out where they're coming from."

"Oh," Hercules said feeling embarrassed he had assumed Hallow Bastion was suppose to look so desolate. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever," Kita said looking at the monstrosity of the castle she once lived in. "We've got to find whatever we can to take back to King Mickey so we can figure out what's going on." Kita lead the way in a frantic sprint towards the castle. What she hadn't expected was the fleet of heartless that appeared out of thin air right in front of her. She stopped so suddenly that Simba nearly slid into her and Hercules, who couldn't stop himself, tripped right over Simba.

"No!" Kita said as she clearly hadn't counted on the heartless so soon. She drew out her key blade like a knight would draw his sword. "Bring it on," she said wearing a death glare on her face. Kita stepped forward and took a tremendous swing at the heartless. Her key blade moved so swiftly as though it weighed nothing at all. Only a few strikes and every heartless from the circle was gone.

"Nice," Simba said with his jaw still hanging open. Hercules had only just gotten himself up from the ground.

"What'd I miss!" Hercules said drawing his sword and sticking it up ready to fight. His headband was covering his eyes and he was unable to see that the heartless had been taken care of.

"Come on, we're wasting time!" Kita said charging forward again. Hercules fixed his headband and he and Simba took off after Kita. She led them into the castle and down many corridors. Only a few times had they encountered heartless again. They reached a lift that followed an invisible track. "Get in," Kita said taking such a huge leap the lift platform swayed back and forth. She hastily put the lift in motion with an impatient look on her face.

"Know where you're going?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah," Kita said still looking out for a destination. "I've been this way before and this stupid lift doesn't go any faster!" Both Hercules and Simba looked shocked at how angry Kita was getting. They looked at each other wondering what they had gotten themselves into.

"Finally," Kita said as the lift stopped. She was the first to jump off and make her way down the hallway. It was a long hall with many doors that all looked so similar. Running around corners, in and out on balconies and up and down stairs, Hercules and Simba started to feel like rats in a maze. They were hoping with all hope Kita really knew where she was going or surely they would all be spending the rest of their lives lost in the Hallow Bastion castle.

After what seemed like hours they finally came to a huge set of metal doors. Kita pushed them open. Inside were more and more of the pipes that were seen from the outside. All around bubbling pots and multicolored steam rising into the air. It was fairly dark apart from the burning torches that looked as though they were at the end of their life. Kita stood there taking a few moments to absorb everything in the room.

"Um, you look lost," Hercules mentioned noticing her vague expression.

"It's just that I've never been able to get in here before," Kita explained. "My father was so careful. He never wanted me to find out what was in here. This is where he did his experimenting. Look at these charts and all his notes about heartless." Kita picked up a booklet that was packed with ingredients and directions. On the tattered cover was the word Heartless. "He's the one who made them," Kita said. "All he needed was a little sample from Ni-Ne Nite, and he could make as many as he wanted.

"Who's Ni-Ne Nite?" Simba asked.

"Some half heartless. I don't know much about her. Just that my father wanted her here so he could figure out how to create and breed heartless. But why?" Kita asked herself.

"Hey does this name mean anything to you?" Hercules asked pointing to a brass plate hanging over the door. It read 'Lollahec.'

"Low-la-heck," Kita said sounding it out. "No, I've never seen or heard it before."

"Hey look at this!" Simba said uncovering a scrapbook with pictures in it. "Who are they?"

"Aurora?" Kita started to read through them. "Pocahontas, Jasmine, Ariel, Snow White, Kidagakash? They look like princesses, but I've never heard of any of them."

"Probably from other worlds," Hercules suggested. "I wonder what he wants pictures of them for."

"No, look," Kita pointed to the book. "He's labeled them. 'Princesses of Heart.'" Kita flipped through the pages noticing Ansem had a lot of information on each of them. He knew where they lived and their families. After viewing the six Kita came to a page with a question mark on it. Many scribbles and cuts were all over the page like someone had taken their anger out on it. "Hmm, wonder what this one's for," Kita said looking at it.

"Are we taking all these notebooks?" Simba asked looking up at a huge mound that towered over him.

"We have to," Kita said. "It's all important information. We'd better just grab them all and head back to the ship before the-," Kita was caught off guard by a few heartless standing right in the doorway. She dropped the scrapbook and drew her key blade once more. This time Hercules was ready and he dashed forward at the heartless before Kita could take even one step. In an instant they were gone.

"Wow! Phil will never believe I have a sword like this one," Hercules said talking to his sword. "The handling is amazing! Better than anything he ever gave me."

"Phil?" Kita said, still frozen on the spot.

"Yeah, he trained me you know," Hercules said with pride in his voice.

"For?" Kita asked, still not getting what he was talking about.

"Oh I'm a hero in training," Hercules said striking a pose putting a smile on his face. "Phil's my trainer." Kita and Simba dropped to the ground laughing. They had never heard of such a thing as a hero in training and to them it sounded just plain silly.

"Hey, it's true!" Hercules said starting to feel awkward. "Here, I'll show you." Hercules walked over to Kita who was still curled up in a ball of laughter. He reached down and lifted Kita up above his head without her even noticing.

"Hey! What's the deal?" Kita said caught off guard now that she was 8 feet in the air. Hercules had a serious look on his face. He was making it clear he was offended by her ridicule. Kita reached down and slapped Hercules on the face.

"You're not supposed to look up girl's skirts!" Kita said. Hercules dropped her not realizing what he had done. Kita sat on the floor looking up at Hercules rubbing her butt from the fall. "Listen, why don't you just use that strength to carry some notebooks so we can get out of here." So the three of them gathered up as much as they could. Kita tied some scrolls to Simba's back since he had no hands. Hercules could lift almost all of the notebooks present. Whatever he didn't have, Kita had stashed in a backpack on her back. She pulled out her key blade ready to destroy any heartless who got in their way on the journey back to the Gummi Ship.

After the long trip through the maze, the three boarded the lift once more. This time Kita didn't seem to be as impatient. She opened the scrapbook with the princesses in it again, turning to the page with the question mark wondering what it meant. The trip almost seemed shorter the second time. In no time they were back to the Gummi Ship without interruption of the heartless. "Almost there!" Kita shouted out in front. Kita reached the Gummi Ship first jumping on before the others. She looked out the cockpit window to see Hercules and Simba still running her way. In the blink of an eye a dark vortex appeared and it was trying to swallow Simba.

"No!" Kita said darting back out of the ship. Hercules threw all the notebooks he was carrying into the ship and turned on a dime to head back toward Simba.

"Get on the ship Kita, I'll get him!" Hercules said sounding very serious. He kept running toward Simba and Kita stopped in her tracks. She couldn't just get on the ship and watch Simba get swallowed up. She couldn't just sit there watching another one of her friends get sucked into darkness. But behind her she could here a funny squeaking noise. A heartless was jumping around the door to the ship and Kita knew she couldn't let it get in. She ran towards the heartless that leapt on through the door and started bouncing around on the notebooks Hercules had tossed inside. She swung her key blade hard wanting to destroy it with all the anger built up inside her. The heartless was gone. Kita turned and looked out the cockpit window again and saw that Hercules had been caught by the Dark vortex too. He was walking her way fighting the grip the swirling black mist had on his ankle. Kita looked towards the door and heard Hercules's voice.

"Go back to King Mickey!" Hercules said. "We'll be alright!" And then Hercules slammed the door of the Gummi Ship shut.

"No!" Kita said starting to move towards the door to open it again. But she tripped as the ship suddenly shook. Hercules had picked up the ship and was preparing to through it into the air. "Stop!" Kita said shaking all around inside. But suddenly she was hurled into one of the walls as the ship was released and she was flying back out into space. Kita found herself all alone back out in space headed back to the Magic Kingdom.


	5. Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Kingdom Hearts- Chapter 5

Kita sat alone in the Gummi Ship wondering what would happen to Simba and Hercules. She barely knew them, but they had been good to here, helping her fight against the darkness. Now she was alone. She drove the Gummi Ship back to the Magic Kingdom with tears of hopelessness in her eyes.

Upon arrival to King Mickey's castle, Kita was left to unload a mound of scrolls and notebooks without her two companions help. She began stacking the notebooks in piles just right for carrying, but she knew she'd have to make several trips to get them all. All Kita could think about was how much she was missing Hercules super-strength right now.

"Need a hand?" a familiar voice said from behind her.

Kita turned around slowly unable to believe what she had just heard. "Ti-Day!" she shouted when she saw her suspicion was correct. Immediately she dropped the chore of piling notebooks and ran over to Ti-Day to give him a hug so big he was nearly knocked the ground.

"Miss me or something?" Ti-Day asked catching his rugged hat before it fell off his head.

"I thought you were gone forever," Kita said sounding as though she were starting to cry. "How was I suppose to know what was going to happen when you got sucked into the black hole?"

"Well, I will admit it wasn't a pretty site," Ti-Day said seriously. "I've never seen a world so dark. Only the glowing eyes of heartless could be seen. I felt so alone and sad."

"I was there once too. When I was locked away in my father's lab, he had injected me with the heartless blood, and I too was lost in that dark, cold place," Kita explained. "But someone saved me I guess… I don't really know what happened. It seemed so real, but he wasn't really there." Kita turned her head looking as though she was getting lost in her mind. She would sometimes think back to that dream in which the boy with white hair had saved her from drowning in the tank. But why did he vanish? Was he even real at all?

"Well I'm not even sure how I got out of there," Ti-Day said in bewilderment. "I guess I just had a desire to get out. Like the light in my own heart was more powerful than the darkness surrounding me. Not to mention I am a wizard. I was about to cast spells of light to repel the heartless and I guess they just didn't want me there anymore, and I woke up here."

"Wow," Kita said amazed. "But not everyone is a wizard, not everyone knows how to fight darkness, so they are still stuck there. I just lost two friends to the same kind of vortex that got you Ti-Day."

"I'm sorry. King Mickey was telling me about them, but I guess they didn't make it back?" Ti-Day asked feeling doubtful.

"No…" Kita said now letting tears fall from her eyes.

"Most unfortunate," said Ti-Day. "Seems like we're losing a hug battle and even one loss is too much."

Kita didn't say much. She felt bad that she hadn't really treated Hercules well and now she had no idea where he was or if she'd ever see him again. She didn't really want to linger on the subject so she changed it back to the notebooks. "You gonna help me with these or what?" she said pointing to the piles of notebooks.

"Oh yeah," Ti-Day said caught off guard by the change of subject. He cast a hovering charm on the piles and all of them lifted off the ground at once and followed wherever he pointed.

"That works," Kita said completely forgetting that Ti-Day was capable of making draining tasks a breeze. The two walked back to King Mickey's throne room behind the floating stacks.

"Kita, thank goodness you've returned," King Mickey said when Kita and Ti-Day returned to the throne room. "But, where are the others?" he said seeing that there were missing.

Kita looked at the ground. This subject seemed to be coming up a lot more than she would have liked. "Their… gone," Kita said sadly.

"Oh dear," King Mickey said. "This is terrible. So many gone already and now a few more. It looks as though all this information you've brought me came with a price." Kita just stayed silent. She wanted to get the recent loss off her mind so she could concentrate on figuring out how to get everyone back from the darkness. "Let's begin shall we?" King Mickey suggested motioning towards the stacks of notebooks. Ti-Day released the spell and the stacks slammed into the ground and a few notebooks slid from their piles.

As the group started going through the notebooks taking in as much information as they could, something entered the room Kita had never seen before. A pink puff had snuck up behind her and pounced right on top of her head. "AHHHH!" she screamed in shock. She had been suddenly attacked by so many heartless lately, she didn't know what else to think.

Ti-Day started laughing. "Nice one Pom-Pom," Ti-Day said still laughing hysterically. "Kita, this is Pom-Pom the pomu."

Kita was still shaken. "A pomu you say? What is that?" Kita said completely unfamiliar with the species. She looked closer now at the little pink puff that had surprised her. It was definitely pink, in the shape of a cloud with a little tail sticking out its backside and two antennas on its head. It had huge glowing orange eyes that shined like stars. Now that she was sure it wasn't heartless, he seemed rather cute.

"Well I'm not entirely sure about this little guy. He's very smart though. He led me here to King Mickey when I escaped from the darkness." Ti-Day explained. "I don't even know where he came from."

Kita tried to pet Pom-Pom to apologize for screaming at him. He made a chirping, purring noise of affection. Pom-Pom then went floating around bouncing over the pile of notebooks scattered all over the floor. He landed on the one Kita was most familiar with; the one with the princesses. "King Mickey, I think you should look at this." Kita said picking up the notebook from under Pom-Pom who then slid to the floor with a little 'oof.'

Kita handed the notebook to King Mickey. "Hmm, Princesses of Heart huh?" he said. "This sounds dangerous. I have a feeling these princesses are in great danger."

"You mean, my father plans to capture them or something?" Kita asked worriedly.

"Maybe. Or worse," King Mickey said. "He has written here in the notes that the Princesses of Heart when grouped together can open the portal to the darkness from which Heartless come from. And as I've read in a few of these other notebooks, this place he's trying to get to is called Kingdom Hearts, the source of all darkness."

"Kingdom Hearts?" Ti-Day cut in. "It doesn't really sound as bad as it really is. But I guess that's where I was."

"How are these Princesses of Heart supposed to open the portal?" Kita asked.

"That's what I'm not sure about yet," King Mickey said. "My worse fear is that they must be sacrificed." Kita gasped. "I guess we won't find out until we read through every single one of these notebooks," King Mickey claimed.

"That will take forever," Ti-Day said. "You don't know how many more lives are going to be taken by the heartless in the time it will take us to get through all of this."

"I know this Ti-Day," King Mickey said. "You and Kita need to continue on out in the other worlds. There are many worlds that have disappeared, and all that remain are overtaken by heartless. Will you go and fight them?"

"Of course," Kita said making it sound obvious that was her intent all along. "I will do whatever it takes to figure out how to stop the darkness."

"Good. I have another task for you as well," King Mickey stated. "You must find this Ni-Ne Nite." Kita was silent at the name. She had attempted to save Ni-Ne once, before being injected with heartless blood and consumed by darkness. It wasn't really something she wanted to experience again, but she did want to stop her father.

"I'll go," Kita said. "Where shall I start looking?"

"Well, I have information that says she is from Halloween Town," King Mickey explained. "You'll need to make your way there. Here I have prepared a map." Mickey handed Kita the map.

"Halloween Town? That's quite a ways from here," Kita pointed out.

"That's why I need you to start now," King Mickey said. "My friends here in the castle and I will go through these notebooks while you head out."

"Makes sense to me," Ti-Day said.

"That reminds me, I have something for you Ti-Day," King Mickey said snapping his fingers. Goofy appeared carrying a Magician's staff. It had to be as tall as Ti-Day was with a sharp end on the top that resembled the end of a scythe. It contained a large orb that was encrusted into it.

"Oh wow!" Ti-Day said grabbing the staff. "This is definitely the coolest. And I'll bet I'm twice as powerful now."

"Actually it heightens your magic four times what it normally is," King Mickey pointed out. "And it can be used in combat as well as spell casting."

"Thanks," Ti-Day said. "I'm gonna kick some major heartless butt now!"

The next day Kita, Ti-Day and Pom-Pom were ready to go. Queen Minnie had a battle outfit made for Ti-Day. It was an open jacket without sleeves and a pair of poofy pants that were made nicely for running and movement. He had a few belts and some boots to complete his battle attire. Set with his new magic staff in hand, he was ready to ride the Gummi ship for the first time. Kita would be driving because she knew how and she could read King Mickey's map without a problem. And so the two set of into orbit as King Mickey and his royal subjects bid them good-bye.

The next day Queen Minnie was frantically searching the palace for King Mickey. "Donald? Goofy? Have you seen Mickey?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Goofy said wondering what could have happened. Donald too looked puzzled about this news.

"Maybe we should search his library where he was studying those notebooks all night," Donald suggested. And so they all set off for the library where they were left to weave in and out of the stacks of notebooks scattered everywhere.

"I see a note!" Queen Minnie said pointing over to King Mickey's desk. She hurried over to the desk careful not to trip on anything. She picked up the envelope and read "Donald and Goofy. Hmm, must be for you," she said handing it to Donald who had finally caught up to her.

Donald opened the letter and read aloud. "Dear Donald and Goofy, I'm sorry to take off like this but as I was going through the notebooks I knew I couldn't stay here any longer. I'm needed in this fight against the darkness. I read about someone called the Key Blade Master. I need you two to go and find him right away. Wherever you find the Kingdom Key Blade, you'll know it's him. Find him and stick with him! He's the only one who can seal the keyholes that were opened allowing heartless to get into the worlds. We've got to get to him before Ansem does. Please be careful, and good luck. –King Mickey. Oh and tell Minnie I love her for me will ya?"

Queen Minnie had tears in her eyes. King Mickey was gone now too in such a dangerous time. But she knew he only wanted to put a stop to all this madness. She helped Donald and Goofy prepare for their journey and they would now be joining Kita, Ti-Day and King Mickey out among the other worlds. And so by that evening they were ready to go and as they boarded their own Gummi ship, Queen Minnie and Daisy were the only two left in the Magic Kingdom palace.


	6. Sora, the Key Blade Master

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Sora, the Key Blade Master- Chapter 6

"Uggg, where am I?" Sora said waking up in a dark ally leaning against a wall. As he slowly opened his eyes he took in more and more of his new surroundings that were so unfamiliar. "Huh?" Sora said to himself looking around. All he could see were stonewalls on both sides of him. A few boxes were stacked next to him and only a night sky straight up. "Riku? Kairi?" he called into the night hoping to hear his friends answer.

There was no return call. Only the sounds of crackling fire a ways off from where Sora sat. Coming to his senses, Sora stood up and started walking to the open end of the ally. As he turned the corner, he could see more lights and buildings. He looked around seeing if he could find anyone at all in this strange place. He walked further into the town and heard accordion music playing. "Where am I?" he said to himself in bewilderment.

Sora went back to the ally he had come-to in feeling he should stay hidden until he was sure this place was safe. He sat back down against the wall to think back to what had happened and how on earth he may have gotten here. "I just remember that dark hole swallowing up the entire island." Sora reasoned with himself. "If only Riku hadn't of touched it. If I ever see him again I'm going to make sure to give him a good punch in the face." Sora hung his head in defeat. He didn't know where he was or what he was going to do.

A bright light started to glow in Sora's hand. He opened his eyes a bit surprised, but watched to see what would happen. Something materialized in his hand. The light soon stopped glowing and where it had been a Key Blade appeared. "Huh?" Sora said, lifting the Key Blade to eye level to exam it. It was silver with a crown shaped design on the end. The handle was gold and from it hung a keychain that looked like a mouse's head. "Where did this come from?" Sora asked himself. But he couldn't think any longer for right then he heard two voices coming from just outside the ally. Sora hid behind the boxes that were next to him and listened.

"So where do you think we'll find this Key Blade Master Donald?" said one of the voices.

"How should I know?" said the other voice that was quite hoarse. "We just gotta find him because King Mickey said it was important!"

Still listening in closely, Sora turned his head to look at his Key Blade. Could this be the one they were talking about? The voices continued.

"Make yourself useful and check that ally over there," the hoarse voice said.

Sora jumped up. One of them was coming his way, and he wasn't even sure if they were friend or foe. The only thing Sora could think to do was grab the key blade to defend himself. He waited behind the boxes with the Key Blade over his head ready to strike. One of the figures was coming his way. He was quite tall and with the light behind him, it was impossible to see the face of the approaching stranger. Sora didn't want to take any chances so when the figure got close enough, Sora swung his key blade down hard on the stranger's head.

"YYYEEEOOOWWWWW!" the voice screamed. He darted out of the ally. "Donald! There's something back there! What if it's a heartless?"

"What?" the hoarse voice asked. "Fine, we'll go look."

This time Sora was up against two. He didn't know if he should knock both of them out or just make a run for it. They were fast approaching and he was running out of time to decide. The best plan Sora could come up with was to run farther down the ally and hide in the shadows until he could get a clear path of escape to run away. As he started to make his way down the ally, he tripped over a brick he couldn't see in the dark. "Ahh!" he said when stubbing his toe.

"Freeze!" the hoarse voice yelled from right behind him. There was a bright flash of blue light.

Suddenly Sora couldn't move. He was caught, frozen in an awkward position of falling from his trip.

"Look Donald! He's got the Key Blade!" said the taller figure pointing to the half fallen Sora statue. "He's the one King Mickey was talking about!"

The shorter figure released the freeze spell that held Sora in place, and when he did, Sora completed his fall to the ground. "Oof," Sora sounded as he hit the ground. The Key Blade clinked against the ground. Before Sora could move any farther, the two figures approached him.

"Fire!" the hoarse voice shouted. Sora remembered how when he had heard the word 'freeze' he suddenly became an ice statue, so when hearing 'fire', he immediately ducked and tried to hide his head, worried that a fireball would be flying at him next. But quite simply there was now a light in the ally. The two figures were standing right over him. "What's the big idea attacking royal servants of King Mickey with that Key Blade?" the hoarse voice asked.

Still afraid to look, Sora merely spoke with his head still covered by his arms. "Please don't hurt me. I didn't know! I just woke up here and the Key Blade, it just appeared in my hand. I didn't know what else to do, honest!" With little bravery Sora slowly removed his head from hiding and looked up and the two figures above him. He was surprised to see a dog and a duck. "Um, who are you?" Sora said realizing they weren't as scary looking as he thought.

"I'm Donald, and this is Goofy," the hoarse voiced duck said. "We were told to find the Key Blade Master. And since you have the Key, you must be him."

"We work for King Mickey," Goofy said. "He sent us to find you, and lucky we did."

"I didn't know anything about this," Sora said. "I was just on Destiny Island and now I'm here. It doesn't make sense."

"The worlds are bein swallowed up by a dark power. Any worlds that still exist are swarming with heartless," Goofy explained.

"And that's why we need you," Donald said. "Your Key Blade is the only thing that can seal the worlds from letting more heartless get in. And once we stop the heartless, we stop the darkness, and hopefully all the worlds and missing souls will come back."

"Wait a minute, back up," Sora said feeling over whelmed by all this new information. "So there are other worlds? And there are things called heartless running around? And I'm suppose to stop them all?"

"Way to catch on, there may be hope for you yet," said Donald. "You won't be doing this alone though. Goofy and I were instructed to stay with you. And we've got others fighting for our side."

"Others?" Sora asked.

"Yes, but that's not important right now!" Donald said seeing the wondering face on Sora. "Right now we've got to get moving on sealing these worlds."

"Wait," Sora said with a speck of hope in his eyes. "Do you know where Riku and Kairi are?"

"Who?" Donald said. "We don't have time for them. If you really want to see them again, you'll come with us and seal these worlds," he said starting to walk away.

Sora hung his head. How could he fight knowing his friends were out there somewhere? Lost… "I promise I'll find you guys," Sora said to himself, looking up into the starry sky. "Even if I die trying." Sora followed Goofy and Donald out of the ally and into the town.

"What is this place?" Sora asked, now realizing he may be with someone who actually knew.

"Traverse Town," Goofy said. "There's lots of shops here you can stock up on potions, ethers, weapons, chains, all sorts of stuff really."

"Why would I need them exactly?" Sora asked.

"Did you think heartless were cute little stuffed animals you could just chuck out of the way with that Key Blade?" Donald said sarcastically. "They're dangerous! You need that stuff to strengthen yourself cause if you loose, you loose…"

"Umm, ok, sorry I asked?" Sora said unsure if he should have said anything at all. Sora took in the town as the three looked around. It was pretty nice actually. Sora had never been to another world. He kept wishing that Riku and Kairi could be with him to take it in as well. Walking behind Donald, Sora noticed a staff he was carrying. It wasn't at all like Sora's Key Blade, and he could not easily forget the fire and ice he had seen come from it. He decided if he was going to be traveling with the bunch that it would be best to break the ice with some conversation sometime, so he asked about it. "Hey Donald, what is that thing you're carrying?"

"A Magician's Staff," Donald answered. "I'm a wizard, and King Mickey gave it to me so I could cast spells."

"Oh, so is that how you froze me?" Sora asked trying to sound like it was a rude gesture on Donald's part.

Donald laughed nervously. "Sorry about that, I couldn't let you get away." Donald was eyeing Sora's Key Blade remembering how Sora had used it to hit Goofy over the head and hoped Sora didn't have a similar plan for him.

"King Mickey gave me a shield so I could defend you," Goofy said about his weapon of choice.

"Well I'm sure I'll need it sense I have no idea what I'll be doing, or facing," Sora said. "By the way, who is this King Mickey you keep talking about?"

"He's the ruler of the Magic Kingdom," Donald said. "He's been trying to figure out what this darkness is that's destroying all the worlds. We have clues about who's behind it, but again, not important right now."

"He disappeared with only a note telling us to find you," Goofy said, sounding a little sad. "He's probably out there fighting heartless on his own."

"So you're looking for someone too?" Sora pointed out. "Well, I'll help you find him if you help me find my friends."

"I'm telling you, they could be anywhere," Donald said getting annoyed. "We don't have time to go on a wild goose chase."

"Well if you say I'm suppose to stop this darkness, that's what I'm going to do!" Sora fought back. "I'm just asking for a little help on the way. If I really can seal these worlds and bring back everyone who disappeared, I will, so don't worry about it Donald!"

Donald turned with a look of shame on his face. He had been unfairly judgmental of Sora's character, and didn't want to fight with the one King Mickey had told him to help. "Oh alright, we'll help you look for your friends! But fighting heartless is the first priority!" he made clear.

"There now, see, we can all be friends," Goofy said picking up Donald and Sora in a sort of group hug.

When Goofy had put the two back on the ground, Sora and Donald shook hands in agreement. Then the three headed off into another district of Traverse Town where Donald warned there maybe heartless waiting for them. "Oh Goofy," Sora said before they proceeded. "Sorry about hitting you on the head."


	7. Shadow Showdown

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Shadow Showdown - Chapter 7

"I see it! There it is Ti-Day!" Kita said while guiding the Gummi Ship towards Halloween Town. There out in front of them was a dark, creepy looking world full of shadows and mist. There was no mistake this was certainly Halloween Town. Kita landed the Gummi Ship in a secluded area that was blocked off from the town by a huge gate. Leaving the Gummi Ship for the first time since leaving the Magic Kingdom, the atmosphere had certainly changed. Halloween Town was a cold, dark world. The only lights were coming from torches in the town square on the other side of the huge gate before Kita and Ti-Day.

"This place certainly is lovely," Ti-Day said looking around. When his wondering eyes finally found Kita, he realized she was wearing something new that reminded him of a bat costume. "Kita, you didn't tell me to bring a costume," he said feeling left out.

"What?" Kita asked, not having a clue what Ti-Day was talking about. "I didn't-. Hey, you did to bring a costume!" Kita was pointing to Ti-Day who was now wearing a red grim reaper outfit.

"Cool," Ti-Day said, looking over his new décor. "And my hands are nothing but bone!"

"There must be something special about this world. We look like real residence now with clothes that aren't ours." Kita tried to reason. It was the best explanation to the sudden change of wardrobe. Kita didn't want to waist anymore time standing around, so she made her way to the gate that separated them from the town square. She looked through the gate to see an eerie square lit by a few torches. The sun had just gone down and it left the entire place in shadow. Old metal fences were surrounding the area with a fountain of glowing green liquid, but no soul was in sight. "Are you coming?" Kita said looking back at Ti-Day who was unbelievably still way too occupied with admiring his outfit.

"What? Oh sorry," Ti-Day said, caught off guard. "Pom-Pom, stay here and guard the ship." Ti-Day commanded grabbing his Magician Staff King Mickey had given him and catching up to Kita at the gate. "So… how do we get in?" Ti-Day asked.

Kita gave him a dumb founded look. "You mean to tell me you're a warlock and you don't have a solution?" Kita just fixed her eyes on Ti-Day's staff to see if he would catch on.

"Ahh, gotcha!" Ti-Day said. "Stand back Miss, for your own safety," he said motioning for Kita to move away. Ti-Day held up his staff and closed his eyes to concentrate hard on the gate. "Obliterate!" He shouted. In a mere second, the gate blew up into many pieces. Kita and Ti-Day stood frozen in their spots looking at the now empty spot where the gate used to be.

"Well… I think that was a bit much," Kita said sounding lost for words.

"Honestly, I meant to knock it over, not blow it up," Ti-Day said to defend himself. "Gosh, King Mickey wasn't kidding when he said this thing would make me four times stronger."

Kita slapped her hand to her forehead. "Come on, we gotta get out of here before someone finds-,"

"What happened to our gate?" a voice shouted from behind Kita.

"-us," Kita finished in absolute fear. She was too scared to turn around and see who was standing behind her.

"Umm, it was an accident," Ti-Day said with a nervous laugh.

"May I ask who you are?" the voice said again.

"Please don't hurt us," Kita said with a shaky voice, still unable to turn to face the voice. "We were sent by King Mickey."

"Is that so?" said the voice. "Looking for Ni-Ne Nite?"

This time Kita turned around. Standing there was a tall skeleton wearing a pinstriped suit. "How did you know?" Kita asked? Her fear slowly melting away feeling this skeleton had been expecting them.

"He said you were coming," said the skeleton. "I'm Jack, Jack Skellington, also known as the Pumpkin King." Jack took Kita's hand to shake it. "I'm glad you made it ok," he said with a smile on his boney face. "What are your names?"

"I'm Kita and this is Ti-Day," Kita introduced them. "I apologize on his behalf about the gate."

"It's alright. Come with me, I'll take you to the lab." Jack said motioning for Kita and Ti-Day to follow.

Kita and Ti-Day followed Jack. Halloween town was growing darker by the second. "Jack?" Kita started to ask. "Do you ever have any heartless here?"

"We have. But not recently," Jack explained. "Since Ni-Ne returned, they've stayed away."

"So she is here?" Ti-Day asked, just to make sure.

"Well yes, but where exactly, I don't know," Jack said unsurely. "She likes to hide."

"We need to speak with her though," Kita explained. "Any chance of finding her?"

"There I'm afraid you are on your own," Jack said. The three arrived at the lab where inside waited three little kids. They were dressed in Halloween costumes too, but not to the extent of Kita or Ti-Day's outfits. They seemed to be digging through a pile of candy on the floor fighting with each other over who got what. "Alright you three, that's enough!" Jack yelled trying to split up the fight.

"Well Jack, did you see what happened to the gate?" one of the kids said.

"Yes, yes. And I'm sorry I assumed it was you," Jack said sounding as though these were tough words to say. "Lock, Shock, Barrel. I'd like you to meet Kita and Ti-Day."

"Pleased to meet you," said the girl in a witch costume bowing to Ti-Day's feet. Kita had a feeling this one had a liking for Ti-Day. "And Jack, I am shocked you would think we would blow up your gate while in the same room as you."

"I know! I apologized already," Jack said sounding annoyed. "These three are the biggest trouble makers in town," Jack explained to Kita and Ti-Day. "You're probably wondering why I brought you to this lab."

"Sorta," Ti-Day said looking around at all the paper and books scattered all over the lab.

"Well ever since the day I found Ni-Ne, I've been trying to figure out how she came to be," Jack explained. "It proves to be an unsolvable mystery. I was wondering Kita if you know anything having been exposed to Ni-Ne's blood."

Kita was silent. How did Jack know about that? Had King Mickey told him? She wasn't expecting this trip to be a reason for her to have to venture down memory lane and remember what was best left forgotten. "It's not like I can explain it. I was a victim. I just ended up in that black abyss where so many are trapped right now." Kita looked up at the wall where a list was posted. It read 'How to make a heart.' The ingredients read: pulse, emotion, fear, hope and despair. Leaving the subject of Ni-Ne, Kita asked, "Is that really what a heart's made of?"

"Well according to my experiments. I've always felt like something must be missing because when I try to make a heart, it always backfires," Jack explained. "I guess I've just always seen those traits in Ni-Ne so I thought it best to keep the list. "She's a mystery all right. I wish I could figure out where she comes from. She's a heartless hybrid and a witch. I gave her a key blade so she could channel her powers into something useful."

"Is there any chance of us having a go at finding Ni-Ne anytime soon?" Kita asked feeling as though they were no closer to finding her then when they had stepped off the Gummi Ship.

"Oh, of course. You may go find her. But I must warn you to be careful," Jack said. "I don't know how she'll take to strangers, and her powers are stronger at night."

"I'm not so much a stranger any more," Kita said knowing once she had rescued Ni-Ne from her own father's grip. "Come on Ti-Day," Kita said, fully prepared to seek out Ni-Ne Nite.

"Good luck," Jack said just before they closed the lab door.

Kita and Ti-Day walked around Halloween Town. The entire world was dark and eerie. Everywhere they looked, there was no sign of Ni-Ne Nite. "It's a shame I didn't get to meet Ni-Ne back when we were looking for her at that ball," Ti-Day said. "Then I might just know what she even looks like."

"She's got brown hair and purple eyes," Kita explained. "So start looking harder. Though I wouldn't be surprised if she's the only other human here in Halloween town."

"But Jack said she was a heartless hybrid," Ti-Day mentioned. "How do you know she won't look like a heartless?"

"Do you honestly think Jack would have found her and cared for her all these years if she looked like the other heartless?" Kita asked. "She would have blended in with all the other ones."

"If you say so," Ti-Day said. "I just hope we find her soon cause I'm tired of walking already." Ti-Day didn't have to wait long for excitement to arrive as he and Kita stepped into a streambed and were suddenly under attack by a bunch of heartless that resembled mummies. Ti-Day started casting spell after spell knocking the heartless down one by one. Kita was jumping and spinning around in circles, slicing the heartless with her key blade. After a few minutes of intense combat, all the heartless were cleared out.

"Thank goodness that's over with," Kita said stepping out of the streambed, now a little less dry than before. The pair of warriors walked on until they reached a giant tree house of some sort that was standing in the middle of a huge circular clearing. "Is it possible she's here?" Kita asked.

"I don't know, but that is one sweet tree house," Ti-Day mentioned.

"May I help you?" a voice said from behind Ti-Day and Kita.

Kita turned around with high hopes that it was who she thought it was. There stood Ni-Ne Nite. She wore an expression of boredom and slight agitation. Her hair was messily flying around her head in the wind, and her light purple eyes were glowing in the moonlight. She wore a witch like costume with lots of patches. Kita started to feel a bit intimidated. She seemed so different here in Halloween town than she had back in Hallow Bastion. She definitely seemed stronger now that she was no prisoner, or was it because it was night?

"Ni-Ne?" Kita asked, without any need for an introduction.

Ni-Ne didn't reply. She merely stared at Kita and Ti-Day with an evil glare. Without warning she jumped up into a tree and out of reach. "You want me? Come and get me," she said as she started jumping from tree to tree towards the giant tree house.

"Hey! Come back!" Kita shouted taking off in a run after Ni-Ne, her key blade in hand. Ti-Day had little choice but to follow.

As he caught up with Kita he said, "She's pretty cute."

Kita almost tripped when she heard Ti-Day's words. "Ti-Day! Can we stay focused here?"

"Sorry," Ti-Day said with a laugh. Immediately he cast a spell that aloud him to take flight and catch up to Ni-Ne, where he then shoved into her and pushed her out of the tree. Ni-Ne fell hard to the ground out in front of Kita who was still running to catch up. Kita was right over top of Ni-Ne now as she stopped running. Kita when to grab Ni-Ne's arm and make sure she couldn't run off again when Ni-Ne lifted a key blade in her arms and swung hard with it. Kita stepped back and barely escaped having her arm whacked off.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Ni-Ne said. "TIME!" she shouted and suddenly Kita was frozen in place. Ni-Ne made a run for it continuing on her way to the giant tree house.

Ti-Day landed back on the ground thinking that Ni-Ne was caught, but when he did, he only found Kita frozen stiff. "Come on now, we'll never get her if you stand around like this," Ti-Day said, not realizing Kita was under a spell. He grabbed Kita's hand and as he started to run after Ni-Ne, was knocked to the ground himself. "What's the big idea?" Ti-Day said thinking Kita had pulled him down on purpose. He got back to his feet and pushed Kita, but she didn't go anywhere. "Oh…" Ti-Day said, catching on. "Release!" he shouted, and suddenly Kita fell to the ground released from the Time spell.

Kita, having been frozen in one moment of time, hadn't realized anything that had happened. "Where's Ni-Ne?" she said, unsure of how she had gotten away.

"Come on!" Ti-Day said grabbing Kita's hand once more and guiding her in the right direction. Together they ran at full speed towards the giant tree house and eventually caught sight of Ni-Ne running up ahead. But as they got closer and closer, Ni-Ne made a sudden stop, planting her feet in place and raising her key blade high.

"Thunder!" She shouted.

"Uh oh," Ti-Day said. He stopped, still hanging on to Kita who was dragged to her feet. Ti-Day covered Kita and himself with his cloak, hoping with all hope it was thick enough to stop the lighting bolts that came raining down at them from the sky. It seemed to work as the shock waves passed without hurting Ti-Day or Kita.

"Thanks Ti-Day. I owe you one," Kita said getting up and charging after Ni-Ne who was a lot closer now than before. Kita's key blade was no good for casting magic spells, but physical attacks were its specialty. If only she could get close enough.

Ti-Day started up another flying spell in hopes to get ahead of Ni-Ne. It seemed to work. As he flew over her head he reached his Magician Staff down low and snagged the back of Ni-Ne's shirt. "Direct hit!" Ti-Day shouted now lifting the helpless Ni-Ne right off the ground. He started directing into the large clearing that surrounded the tree house. Kita followed sliding down a steep hill of dirt to meet them in the clearing.

"Did you think you're little plan was going to work?" Ni-Ne asked Ti-Day who was still carrying her by his staff. Ni-Ne shouted, "Time!" and Ti-Day froze in midair. Ni-Ne used the opportunity to swing herself off of the hook on the staff and landed on the ground just before Kita arrived.

"Let him go!" Kita shouted at Ni-Ne.

"You're gonna have to fight me for it," Ni-Ne said. "I know you can't do magic, so he'll just have to be stuck there unless you beat me."

"Oh I will," Kita said, now with a fury of fire raging through her. Kita made the first move without any thought and charged at Ni-Ne with her key blade held high.

"Fire!" Ni-Ne shouted. The blaze hit Kita right on, but thanks to her costume, she was protected from fire attacks and so charged on without flinching. When she was right up in Ni-Ne's face, the key blades collided.

There was no magic now. Kita and Ni-Ne were using their key blades like swords, swinging them around in the air trying to stab one another. "Stop this Ni-Ne! We didn't come to kidnap you," Kita started to reason through the fight.

"Why should I believe you?" Ni-Ne asked. "After what your father did to me, I don't know if anyone can be trusted."

"He tried to kill me! I'm fighting against him now," Kita said. She dodged Ni-Ne's key blade. "King Mickey needs you on our side!"

"I can't. I'm heartless," Ni-Ne pointed out. "King Mickey only wants to experiment on me like Ansem did! I'm not going!"

Kita was at full rage. A sudden burst of energy flooded through her. And somewhere in the back of her mind came two words. She didn't know what they meant, but she felt like she had to say them. "Ars Arcanum!" she screamed. Suddenly she was flying forward at Ni-Ne, her key blade charging like a bullet. It all happened so fast. She hit Ni-Ne once and in mid fall she hit her again and again and again, until she had hit her at least six times in a row. Ni-Ne fell to the ground breathing hard. Kita walked over to her and kept Ni-Ne down while holding the point of her key blade at Ni-Ne's neck. "How dare you assume we are all out to get you," Kita started to explain. "King Mickey is trying to help you. _W_e are trying to help you, and this is how you repay us?"

Ni-Ne stayed on the ground. "What do you want?" she asked sounding really beat.

"Just come with me back to Jack's place and we're going to talk, got it?" Kita said trying to lay down some rules.

"Fine," Ni-Ne said, for the first time starting to sound defeated. Kita pulled back her key blade and instead reached out her hand to offer Ni-Ne some help getting up off the ground. At first Ni-Ne just stared at Kita. Finally she accepted the hand and got up off the ground. Kita and Ni-Ne started to walk out of the clearing, but before they got far, Ni-Ne snapped her fingers and there was a crash behind them.

"Ouch!" Ti-Day shouted as he hit the dirt.

"Oh yeah, thanks," Kita said, realizing she had completely forgotten about Ti-Day. As they walked on, and Ti-Day stumbled to catch up, complaining about how he had just missed what happened, Kita thought she saw a tiny innocent smile on Ni-Ne's face.


	8. Heartless Hybrid

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Heartless Hybrid - Chapter 8

Kita, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne Nite made their way back to Halloween Town Square to meet up with Jack. Kita couldn't help but feel embarrassed by Ti-Day who looked like a love sick puppy drooling all over himself from goggling at Ni-Ne. Kita wasn't a hundred percent positive Ni-Ne was aware of this strange behavior or not. She kept her head looking straightforward and stayed silent for the most part. The way her brown choppy, layered hair swayed in the wind as she walked made her look like some sort of heroine on her way to war.

Soon enough the trio was back in the Town Square where Jack stood proud and tall probably glad to see they had all come back in one piece. "Ni-Ne, good to see you've met Ti-Day and Kita," Jack said happily. He was mistaken to think that Ni-Ne was 'happy' to see them. She still kept up a pretty tough, uninterested attitude. Or perhaps she was just very disturbed by Ti-Day's goofball behavior.

"Ti-Day, you're creeping me out, so I'm sure you're creeping Ni-Ne out too," Kita said trying to snap Ti-Day out of his stare. "Girls don't really like to be stared at by a guy who lets his mouth hang open looking stupid like that." Ti-Day seemed to get the point and with a little blush took his gaze off of Ni-Ne as she lead the way into the lab. Kita and Ti-Day followed and Jack brought up the rear.

Once they were all inside, Jack started to offer snacks. He held out a tray of dried up spiders and juicy bat wings. Kita and Ti-Day backed away, completely grossed out by the though of eating such disgusting things. Ni-Ne on the other hand took one of the spiders in her hand and ripped the top half off with her teeth and swallowed. This time Kita and Ti-Day's mouth were hanging open in shock. Ni-Ne simply gave the pair a glare continuing to finish eating the spider. She then looked up at Jack who was looking at Kita and Ti-Day's stares with confusion.

"I have some other things if you'd like," Jack said feeling bad Kita and Ti-Day didn't have something to snack on. "Lets see, worms wart, frogs breath, boar eyes-,"

"No thanks, I think we're good," Ti-Day interrupted just to make Jack stop listing such gross foods.

"If you insist," Jack said with a smile.

"If I may, why did you need to see me again?" Ni-Ne said feeling as though Kita and Ti-Day hadn't come to taste foreign world dishes.

"I have a question," Ti-Day spoke up. "Ni-Ne, are you single?"

Kita literally fell right out of her chair. "I can't believe you," she said to the floor she was now face planting. Ti-Day clearly could never keep a straightforward mind. Kita got up off the floor and slapped Ti-Day upside the head. "Can we stay focused here, PLEASE?"

"Fine," Ti-Day said looking like he had missed his chance at dating a celebrity.

"Anyway," Kita said trying to get back to the matter. "King Mickey wanted us to come here to ask you some things. He needs all the info he can get. You kinda play a roll in all that's been happening lately."

"I would think Kita, that you already know," Ni-Ne said.

"Well, not everything," Kita said. "What are you? Where did you come from?"

"I can only answer one of those questions," Ni-Ne said. "I am a Heartless Hybrid. Half human, half heartless. How, I don't know. But I'm also a witch. Magic is a specialty of mine. And as for where I came from, I really have no idea."

"It's true that not even I have been able to figure it out," Jack interrupted. "I found her when she was little. No one around but a child who I actually thought was dead at first…"

"Care to enlighten?" Kita said curious to know more.

"Well she was asleep. Her skin tone was so pale, almost blue. Half of her face, down her neck and one shoulder on her left side looked as though she had been slashed. It was as if her skin was torn off, bleeding some black bubbling liquid."

"The blood of a heartless," Ni-Ne said looking straight at Kita. Kita felt a little tense. It was as an uncomfortable subject for her as it was for Ni-Ne. That horrible day when Ansem succeeded at getting to his prize, Kita and Ni-Ne would surely never forget.

"Wah, back up," Ti-Day said. "Blood of a heartless?"

Without a word Ni-Ne took a knife from the table the snack tray was sitting on and slit her wrist with it. Ti-Day jumped back a little grossed out. Kita jerked feeling a sharp pain in the veins in her arm. Somehow her blood was connected to Ni-Ne's. Black blood began to ooze out of Ni-Ne's wrist. Instead of merely falling to the floor the blood took the shape of a heartless. "Holy cow," Ti-Day said in bewilderment. He slowly stood up keeping his eye on the heartless, magical staff in hand. Ni-Ne sat staring at him with her glowing light purple eyes. She didn't seem alarmed at all that the heartless was bouncing around in front of her. Finally after a minute or so she took her crescent key blade and thrust it through the heartless's head destroying it.

"Heh, I wasn't scared," Ti-Day said, slowly sitting down again with a nervous laugh.

"Sure," Kita said rolling her eyes. "I guess this whole heartless from the blood thing is the real reason my father wanted you to come to Hallow Bastion."

"He got what he wanted," Ni-Ne said. "I'm sure he knows more about my blood than I do. He told me he only wanted it to breed heartless."

"Yeah, unfortunately I was his first test subject," Kita said as though it was no big deal. "He started kidnapping people from our world and testing on them. I don't even want to know how many died."

Ti-Day was silent through this whole conversation. He wasn't fully filled in about all that had happened between them. All he knew was that after that night at the ball Kita seemed to be missing. When weeks later she had shown up again, he had never been so relieved to know she was alive. "Ni-Ne, if you knew Kita, they why did you fight us out there?" Ti-Day asked, the most serious question he had yet.

"I just have a hard time trusting people," Ni-Ne said as though it was obvious. "How would you feel if someone invited you to another world just to use you?"

"Umm, pretty bad I guess," Ti-Day said.

"I want to be nice. I want people to like me," Ni-Ne said, her voice drifting dreamily. "I hate seeing people get hurt. Used… I look at myself in the mirror and I see a heartless staring back at me. If I don't fight, I can't keep people away where they'll be safe. Away from me."

"Don't say that," Ti-Day stood up for her. "I'll stand by you no matter what. I'm not afraid. I'd rather show you I care by standing by you than running away, no matter how bad it may seem."

"You're on our side now, whether you acknowledge it or not," Kita explained. "If you're against Ansem, you're with us." Ni-Ne stayed silent. She looked unsure, still a little untrustworthy of the others. Ni-Ne turned to look at a tattoo on her shoulder. It was the heart-shaped symbol of the heartless.

"This tattoo is supposedly the only thing that keeps me from turning full heartless on anyone, but how well it works, I don't know," Ni-Ne said. "Aren't you afraid of me?" she asked looking up at Kita and Ti-Day with a sad look in her eyes.

"No," Kita said firmly. "I'm not afraid of anything." Ni-Ne looked at Kita feeling as though what she had said wasn't completely true. She then shifted her eyes to Ti-Day.

"I'm not afraid," Ti-Day said in the most serious tone. He locked eyes with Ni-Ne wanted her to believe him.

"See Ni-Ne," Jack interrupted the moment. "These two traveled far to come and help you. You're never alone. I took you in when you were little. I'm not afraid of you." Ni-Ne stared at the floor in deep thought. Kita and Ti-Day hadn't left or given into the fact that Ni-Ne was half heartless. They showed no sign of fear. They only persisted in fighting for what they believed.

"I think you're right…" she whispered softly, lifting her head to look at Ti-Day, Kita and Jack. She slowly smiled at them all.

"Ni-Ne, go with them," Jack said encouragingly. "Maybe you'll find the answers to the questions of your past," he said patting Ni-Ne on the head. He pulled her into a hug, like a loving father would hug his child.

"We'll travel to other worlds together! You'll meet new people. Make new friends. Like us!" Ti-Day said hanging his arm around Kita's neck as she smiled.

"Alright, I'll go with you," Ni-Ne said sounding her happiest yet. "Under one condition. Promise me you'll always be honest and not use me like Ansem did."

Kita could see in Ni-Ne's eyes that she was still a bit worried, leaving her home to venture with a couple she barely knew. "Of course, Ni-Ne. We can keep your promise," Kita said assuring Ni-Ne.

Ti-Day took Ni-Ne's hand sweetly, "But seriously, are you single?"

Kita felt her blood stared to boil and screamed at Ti-Day. "TI-DAY, THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO ASK SOMEONE FOR A DATE!"

Ni-Ne watched them argued and cracked a smile and started to laugh heartily. Jack was glad to see Ni-Ne happy and laughing. "Fifteen years it's been and I haven't seen Ni-Ne smile since she was five," Jack said. "Trying to make you laugh and smile was hard for me, but you laughed at my jokes. Remember?"

Ni-Ne looked up at Jack and smiled, "Yes, I do remember Papa Jack."


	9. Joined Forces

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Joined Forces- Chapter 9

Kita, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne Nite boarded the Gummi Ship with Pom-Pom and set off back to the Magic Kingdom, not knowing King Mickey was no longer there. But mean while, in Traverse Town, Sora was busy getting to know his new accomplice's Donald and Goofy. They had been all around Traverse Town destroying heartless after heartless, all the while keeping an eye out for Sora's friends.

"Sora, watch out!" Donald shouted, as Sora stood in his place unaware of the heartless about to pounce him. Just in the nick of time Sora swung his key blade in a 360 and hit the heartless right on, destroying it in one blow.

"Thanks Donald," Sora said. "I'll bet Riku would have loved this kind of adventure. He was always the one who wanted to get off our island the most. He wouldn't even believe me if I told him about all this!"

"I think he would," said a familiar voice from behind Sora.

"Riku!" Sora shouted in high hopes. When he turned, his eyes met with his dear white haired friend. "Riku! You're here!" Sora dashed towards Riku and rapped his arms around him uncontrollably just to make sure it wasn't a dream.

"Um, ok, you can let go now," Riku said laughing at Sora. "Where you really that worried about me? I'm a big guy. I can take care of myself."

"Well the last time I saw you, you were being sucked into some dark vortex," Sora said, making it sound like this was obviously something strange.

"I actually just ended up here like you I guess," Riku said looking around the town. "Seen Kairi yet?"

"No… I thought maybe she was with you," Sora said suddenly sounding confused and worried.

"No, I haven't found her yet," Riku said. "Maybe she's stuck in that dark place."

"Don't even think that way!" Sora shouted at Riku. "We have to find her!"

"Hold your horses," Riku said trying to calm Sora down. "You didn't think I was just gonna set out my beach towel and umbrella and call this a vacation did ya? I promise, I'll try to find Kairi too. We're all friends. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't look for her?"

"Your right Riku," Sora said. "I'm just worried about her that's all. Thanks for your help." Sora turned to look back at Donald and Goofy who where standing there looking confused and left out. "Oh! Sorry. Riku, this is Donald and Goofy. Guys, this is one of my friends, Riku." Donald stared at Riku with a suspicious look. Sora could tell there were some tensions between them. "Hey guys. Can't we all just be friends?" Sora asked nervously looking at Donald and Riku.

"Well of course we can," said Goofy with a chuckle as he went up behind Riku and patted him on the back.

"Well good to see at least one of them likes me," Riku said, still eyeing Donald.

"Heh, yeah," Sora said laughing nervously. He was hoping Donald and Riku wouldn't break out into some sort of fight. "Well, we've got to get going," Sora interrupted the stare down. "Donald here told me I was suppose to seal the worlds with my Key Blade, and I'm sure they aren't all gonna seal themselves if we just stand around. Besides, Kairi is out there. We're wasting time."

"Sora's right," Riku said, still not taking his eyes off of Donald. "Lets go."

"Who said you were comin?" Donald asked with a grumpy tone. "We were only suppose work with the Key Blade Master." Riku looked to Sora for some support. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Donald, we went through this," Sora said sounding agitated. "I said I'd help you seal the worlds and find your king if you helped me find my friends. He's my friend Donald!"

"And he's found," Donald said stating the obvious. "So he can stay and we'll go on our way."

"That's not fair!" Sora fought back. "He can help us too! Right Riku?" Riku motioned to speak, but Sora interrupted again before he could say anything. "Of course he will! Come on Donald!"

"Yeah, come on Donald, he just wants to help," Goofy said, joining in to support Sora.

Donald stood his ground looking at all the puppy eyes staring back at him. "Oh fine!" he said in final defeat.

"YEAH!" Riku, Sora and Goofy shouted together in victory. The newly formed group headed for the Gummi Ship that Donald and Goofy had traveled to traverse town in. They headed to the Magic Kingdom to collect any new instructions or information before heading out to new worlds.

"King Mickey?" Kita shouted as she wandered around the Magic Kingdom Castle. The placed seemed to be very quit. Ti-Day, Ni-Ne Nite and Pom-Pom followed her, also looking around for any sign of anyone. "Where could he be?" Kita thought out loud. "He's usually in his study or throne room, and he's in neither."

"Maybe something happened while we were gone," Ti-Day suggested with a worried tone. None of them knew anything about King Mickey's absence, and so continued on looking for anyone at all who might be left in the castle.

"Your Majesty!" Kita shouted louder. "Queen Minnie! Donald! Goofy! This just isn't right," Kita said to herself. She took out her key blade thinking ahead that perhaps the Magic Kingdom too had been attacked by the darkness while she and Ti-Day were away. Ni-Ne followed Kita in her action of keeping her key blade at hand just incase. Pom-Pom floated around, bouncing off the walls without a care in the world. "Careful Pom-Pom," Kita said to caution him. "Something's wrong."

"Maybe we should split up," Ti-Day suggested. "We'll cover more ground that way. Me and Ni-Ne will go to the west wing, and you and Pom-Pom can take the east wing." Ti-Day continued on in a quite voice, "Then me and Ni-Ne can have a little alone time," he said winking at Ni-Ne who only looked confused because she hadn't heard what Ti-Day had just said.

Kita on the other hand did. **WHAM**. Kita knocked Ti-Day over the head with the handle end of her key blade. "I think you're missing the whole point," she said with a small twitch in her face.

"I was kidding!" Ti-Day said defending himself and rubbing the bump on his head. "I promise, this is serious." Kita didn't look entirely convinced. "Besides, I don't really consider it romantic to lurk around hallways on our first date." Kita swung her key blade hard at Ti-Day's head again, but this time he knew it was coming and ducked instead. Then he darted off, laughing and grabbed Ni-Ne's hand and started pulling her off in the opposite direction.

Kita stood in place with an unbelieving look on her face. "I'm not even gonna waist my breath this time," she said to herself. She turned to follow Pom-Pom who was an incredible distance ahead of her now. "Hey, wait up!" she shouted, running after him. Pom-Pom was much faster than she gave him credit for. Soon, Kita had entirely lost sight of him. "Where did he get to?" Kita asked herself, feeling lost. The castle was huge, and it wasn't like she was completely familiar with it. But soon enough she heard Pom-Pom squeal loudly as though he was in distress. "Pom-Pom!"

Racing toward his squealing, she found her way to an open rotunda where two corridors crossed. There in one of the corners was Pom-Pom being held tightly in place by a black wing sword that was held by a white haired boy. Seeing the pain Pom-Pom was in, Kita fearlessly leapt towards the boy raising her key blade high ready to strike. She swung down hard knocking the boy to ground. She then landed squarely on top of him holding her key blade across his neck and kneeling right into his gut so as to hold him down.

"Ack!" The boy sounded, hardly able to breath under Kita's weight. "Wah wa tha for?" he tried to ask with what little breath he had.

"Who are-!" Kita started to say, but when she looked at the boy, she immediately recognized him. She quickly got up off of him and backed away hardly able to believe her eyes. It was the boy who had saved her from drowning.

"What's the big idea?" the boy said, doubled over trying to catch his breath. He slowly looked up at his attacker and found himself wearing the same puzzled stare that Kita had on her face. "You," He said. "You're the girl from my dream."

Kita couldn't find words to say. How was someone she had only met once, and had disappeared now standing before her? She knew she had been saved, but why did he disappear? She had never thought he was even real until this very moment. "Is it you?" she asked, still unbelieving. She reached out to poke his chest, just to make sure he wasn't a figment of her imagination. Real as the castle around her, when Kita touched the boy, he was solid.

"Um, are you ok?" the boy asked a bit confused as to why he was just poked. "If that's how you say hello, I'm afraid I can't do it back cause where I'm from, that'd be considered indecent to a lady."

"No, I was just curious," Kita said slowly, as if lost somewhere in the back of her mind. "Who are you?"

"The name's Riku. You?" he answered.

"Where did you come from?" Kita continued ignoring his question, now circling Riku still trying to convince herself he was real. "I still can't believe you're here."

"Well I just arrived with Sora, Goofy and Donald," Riku explained, giving Kita strange looks as she circled him like a shark. Kita didn't know who Sora was, but then again Riku was close enough to a stranger too. "I'm actually from a place called Destiny Island," Riku continued. "I don't know how I actually met you in that dream. I really thought it was just a dream."

"Well, it wasn't a dream to me," Kita said. "I would have died had you not helped me. Thank you," she finished with an innocent look in her eyes though hesitant to give him too much praise. Riku stared back at her. He was lost in her bright pink eyes. She was somehow more mystical now in the flesh than she had been in the dream.

"Curious. When I first saw you in the tank, your eyes were all black. What was that about?" Riku asked curiously.

"No time for story telling," Kita said snapping back to reality. "I've got to find King Mickey."

"Well I can't help ya there," Riku said. "No idea who he is or where he could be."

"Well then what good are you standing around here picking on my pal Pom-Pom?" Kita asked toughening up.

"Your pal? I thought that thing was a heartless," Riku said looking over at Pom-Pom who was cowering in fear on the floor.

Kita bent down to pick up Pom-Pom. "Does this look like the face of a heartless to you?" Kita asked holding Pom-Pom up next to her face. The pair gave Riku innocent puppy eyes to gain his sympathy. As Riku stared at them feeling sorry, Kita and Pom-Pom dashed forward. Pom-Pom landed on Riku's head and messed his hair up so he couldn't see and then Kita gave him a little push in the back causing him to stumble forward. Kita laughed as her and Pom-Pom made an escape. "Did you see his face? He looked like he was falling in love with me, ha ha!" Kita laughed continuing on her way to find King Mickey.

As Kita ran on ahead, she was stopped suddenly by a boy with brown hair that was spiky like Ti-Day's. He too had a key blade. Kita stopped and Pom-Pom hid behind her. The two had a stare down. "Who are you?" Kita asked, wanting to get moving.

"The name's Sora," the boy said. "Who are you?"

"Kita," she replied. "I work for King Mickey. What are you doing here?"

"The same I guess," Sora said, sounding a little shy. "I haven't actually met him. Donald and Goofy brought me here. They said the King was gone."

"Gone?" Kita said urgently. "But… he didn't say he was leaving. We came back to see him. What are we suppose to do now?" Kita was pacing around looking worried. Ti-Day and herself had managed to collect Ni-Ne Nite, but now King Mickey wasn't here. "Where are you going?" Kita asked Sora thinking she should at least know that.

"Donald said my Key Blade can seal the worlds," Sora said. "As soon as they are done here, we're departing for another world I guess." Kita eyed Sora's Key Blade. It was different from hers, and she could sense great power coming from it. King Mickey must have discovered this boy after Kita had left, and he had sent Donald and Goofy to find him.

"I'm going with you," Kita said.

"What?" Sora asked. He knew Donald had barely let Riku on the Gummi Ship, so why would they let Kita come too?

"I'm going with you," Kita repeated herself. "And Ti-Day and Ni-Ne are coming with."

"Who are they?" Sora asked feeling really clueless.

"My friends. Ever heard of the Warriors of Light?" Kita asked. "That's us. We work for King Mickey. Our mission is to stop Ansem."

"Is that who's behind all this?" Sora asked.

"Boy they did a bad job briefing you," Kita said, unimpressed with Sora's knowledge. He was here to join the team and he knew nothing at all. As Kita finished her sentence, Riku had managed to find his way to the hall where Sora and Kita were. "Back for more?" Kita laughed.

"No, I just didn't catch that pretty name of yours," Riku said flirtatiously.

Kita just stood there looking at Riku with her famous dumbfounded expression. She was looking at another Ti-Day. A slightly younger, white haired version of that ladies man. "I can't even believe this universe I live in," Kita said just walking away. "Well, we need to find the others and get going cause this universe isn't going to save itself."

Sora, Riku, Kita and Pom-Pom continued on their way through the castle to look for Goofy, Donald, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne. New adventures only lie ahead for the newly grouped Warriors of Light.


	10. Familiar Faces

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Familiar Faces- Chapter 10

Ni-Ne, have you ever had a boyfriend before?" Ti-Day asked as he and Ni-Ne walked the halls of the castle, no longer paying attention to finding King Mickey.

"No," Ni-Ne answered quietly. She looked intimidated by Ti-Day's constant persist of winning her over. She had never grown up around boys her age fit for dating, and was really shy about the whole idea.

"Well, I keep asking and you never answer me," Ti-Day said. "Will you go out with me or not?" Ni-Ne stayed silent. She was nervous and really couldn't find an answer being put on the spot all the time. She just stared at Ti-Day trying to get across to him it wasn't something she was comfortable with. "That's ok," Ti-Day said with a genuine smile. "I'll let you think about it. No point in rushing anything since we just met and all." Ti-Day turned his head forward to continue leading the way through the halls but just as he did, something hard smashed him right in the face.

"I thought I heard something annoying," Kita's voice sounded. She had just planted a direct target for her key blade into Ti-Day's face.

"I like your style," Riku said praising Kita.

"Shut it, or you'll be next," Kita said threatening Riku with her key blade. Pom-Pom made a giggling noise.

"Touchy. Meow!" Riku teased. Riku apparently had quicker reflexes than Ti-Day as he jumped aside avoiding a painful whack in the head.

"Um, Kita? Who are these guys?" Ti-Day asked staring at Sora and Riku who had arrived at the scene with her.

"Oh, this is Sora," Kita said pointing to Sora. "And this is your long lost twin, Riku," she said pointing to Riku.

"Are you sure?" Ti-Day asked. "We don't look alike… And as far as I know, I have no siblings."

"Well the two of you sure act alike," Kita said sounding rather hopeless. Kita turned to Ni-Ne and came in close to whisper something to her. "Ni-Ne, guys are pushovers. You just have to exercise your privilege to bend them in half once in a while."

"Hey! I can hear you!" Ti-Day shouted. Ni-Ne looked confused.

"If Ti-Day gives you any trouble, just hit him over the head with your key blade. That's what they're best for anyway," Kita continued, paying no attention to Ti-Day. Ni-Ne still just stared curiously. She hadn't really though of hitting Ti-Day over the head, but Kita seemed to do it an awful lot.

Ti-Day decided to take matters into his own hands. If Kita could give Ni-Ne girl-talk, the he could certainly give Sora and Riku man-to-man talk. He covered his mouth with his hand to secretly talk to Sora and Riku behind him. "It's really the girls who are pushovers. It's best just to let them think they hold the upper hand while they never find out you only play along so they can feel good." Sora and Riku looked at each other, but Riku seemed to be the one taking in this information. He probably thought it useful for future use.

Kita finally stepped away from Ni-Ne and turned to the guys. "Well, we've got to find Donald and Goofy and get on our merry way. King Mickey's left, so there's no point in staying any longer."

"Here here," Ti-Day said, over exaggerating his enthusiasm to move on.

"I think they are closer than you think," Ni-Ne said. "I just saw them in the garage before we all met here.

"Why didn't you say something? Let's go!" Sora said, taking charge and leading the way. The others followed him.

"Uggg!" Ti-Day sounded as he sort of tripped to the ground. "My heart… something's wrong," he said weakly, collapsing on the ground and holding his chest. Kita was the first to come to his side. She had the look of worry in her eyes.

"Ti-Day? What's wrong," she said with an unnaturally sad tone of voice. She had her hand on his shoulder to show concern.

"I- I… GOTCHA!" Ti-Day said getting up and laughing his head off.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" Kita said preparing her key blade to strike him once more. Ni-Ne was laughing hard. Sora and Riku looked a bit confused, but they too thought it was a good joke. Pom-Pom was bouncing around happily thinking it was a game.

Kita was charging with maximum rage towards Ti-Day as he continued to run away. "And that my friends is how you bend the ladies!" Ti-Day shouted in victory. Sora and Riku were laughing as hard as Ni-Ne now. They admired Ti-Day's cunning tactics just to tic Kita off.

"That's enough children!" Donald's voice rang out. Donald and Goofy must have heard the ruckus the group was making and decided to bring some order to the situation. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing at once. Ti-Day was left in a strange pose after stopping in mid run. "This is some serious matter we're dealing with here and all of you are playing games!" Donald scolded.

"Aww come on Donald, they were just having fun," Goofy said, sticking up for them. "The world's are growin darker everyday, let 'um have some fun."

"No Goofy!" Donald continued. "We have some serious business and there will be no games!"

"First off, we are not kids," Riku said, coming forward. "And second, you need to lighten up!"

"Watch it Whitey," Donald said, speaking about Riku's hair.

"Excuse me?" Kita said. "Whitey? In case you didn't notice, I have white hair. What's wrong with that!" Riku looked over at Kita and for the first time felt like she actually didn't hate his guts.

"You guys!" Sora shouted. "We need to work together here. We are supposed to be on the same side. Think about all those people out there who are lost or disappearing while we stand around here and fight. Kairi's out there! I'm not staying any longer." Sora made his way through the group and started heading for the Gummi garage bye himself.

"I'm with Sora on this," Kita said. Though she never had a major connection to Hercules or Simba, she still felt responsible for their loss, and was ready to get out there and find them. Riku followed her feeling it was unnecessary to fight with Donald anymore. Pom-Pom scurried away after Kita as well.

"I'm going too," Ti-Day said. He took Ni-Ne's hand to bring her along as well. Ni-Ne blushed as she was dragged away.

"That's more like it," Donald said, making it sound as though he was the one responsible for this sudden change of heart from the others. "Come on Goofy." Goofy followed Donald back to the Gummi garage. Kita, Ti-Day, Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom had full plans to ride together again in their own ship. But this time, someone else wanted to tag along.

"If it's alright, may I join you on your ship?" Riku asked Kita politely.

"Only if you two jokers can keep quiet and be serious," Kita said firmly. She wasn't about to drive a Gummi Ship with two clowns in the back seat. They'd all be doomed to crash if that happened.

"I promise," Riku said, for once sounding sincerer. Kita watched Riku jump onto the ship. She wasn't about to admit she thought he was cute, but she did think so.

"Where we headed?" Kita asked Donald who was driving the other ship.

"Just follow me!" Donald said, sounding important. The two Gummi Ships were closed up, loaded and ready to go. One right after the other they took off from the Magic Kingdom landing, and headed out into outer space to find another world that would need saving.

"Donald, are we there yet?" Kita asked over the radio system. Kita was getting tired and just wanted to land. Riku and Ti-Day managed to be so quiet, they were putting Kita to sleep at the controls.

"Hold your horses!" Donald's hoarse voice called back through the radio. "We're getting close." Within minutes a world appeared outside the window. Kita's eyes were fixed on it and she was more than ready to get out of the Gummi Ship and stretch her legs. The temple like structures suggested a Greek style to the world. The sun was shining brightly and it looked like a safe place to land. "We're going in," Donald said, leading the way. Kita was close behind and landed safely next to Donald's ship.

Kita looked behind her to inform the others since they seemed so quiet. "We're h-," Kita paused in mid sentence. Riku, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne were leaning up against each other, fast asleep. Pom-Pom was nestled under Ti-Day's arm. "Well, that explains a lot," Kita said to herself as she had finally figured out why the journey was so quiet. "RISE AND SHINE SLEEPY HEADS!"

"What!" Ti-Day said being the first to snap back to consciousness. Riku and Ni-Ne looked annoyed from hearing the shout that suddenly woke them.

"We're hear," Kita said staring at the sleepy eyed passengers. Donald, Goofy and Sora were out of their ship already. Kita left the ship leaving the others to make their way out at their own pace. "Where are we?" Kita said looking around.

"Olympus Coliseum," Donald said. "It was the first world on the map. Someone should be around." Finally the three sleepy heads made their way out of the ship, not really looking anymore awake. There was a strange noise in the distance, like the sound of someone fighting. "There's our company," Donald said moving towards the sound. He started at a run suggesting the group might make their way along and help whoever it was in distress.

"Ya! Take that!" the voice was saying. It sounded as though some combat were taking place. Everyone hurried along to see what was going on. There was a boy fighting a couple heartless up ahead. Ti-Day took his staff and cast a freeze spell that captured the attackers. Ni-Ne made a move to follow up by shooting fireballs at the heartless and destroying them. "Ah, thanks," the boy said turning to face the group.

Kita gasped. "Hercules!" she shouted realizing who it was. "You're alive!"

"Kita? What are you doing here?" Hercules said, in the same surprised tone. They ran up to each other.

"I thought you were gone for good," Kita said.

"Actually I ended up back here," Hercules explained. "This is my home."

"Where's Simba?" Kita asked hoping Hercules knew. Hercules turned his head to the side and stayed silent.

"Simba?" Sora said. "I know Simba! Look!" Sora pulled a gem out of his pocket and performed a ritual with his Key Blade that turned the stone into a spirit. It was Simba.

"Simba!" Kita said. She went to wrap her arms around his head. He was very cold. "What happened to you?" Kita asked.

"Kita? What are you doing here?" Simba asked. He was almost an adult now, as it had been awhile since they'd seen each other.

"Simba, why are you a spirit? What happened?" Kita persisted.

"Well when the darkness got me, I fought against it, and it was like my soul split in half," Simba explained. "But I guess I was still able to help fight against the darkness. I help Sora now."

"Yeah, I found his gem when we were fighting heartless in Traverse Town," Sora explained. "That's cool that you guys all know each other, though I don't know how."

"Simba, Hercules and I were the first Warriors of Light," Kita explained to everyone seeing the clueless looks on their faces. Only Goofy, Donald and Ti-Day were familiar with the story. "We only had one mission and it kinda ended there." Kita trailed off sounding sad just thinking back to it. But now Hercules and Simba were safe. At least for now.

"Kita, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend," Riku interrupted.

"He is NOT my boyfriend!" Kita shouted, her blood starting to boil.

"I was just messin with ya," Riku said laughing.

"Still as stubborn as ever I see," Hercules said. Kita just eyed him evilly. As long as Ti-Day, Riku and Hercules existed, there would always be three guys that knew just how to get on her nerves.

"Who are the newbies?" Hercules asked.

"Oh, this is Sora, the Key Blade Master, Riku second most annoying person on earth, Ti-Day, _thee_ most annoying person on earth and Ni-Ne Nite, the only sweetheart in the bunch," Kita introduced everyone. Riku and Ti-Day didn't look the least bit surprised they had been introduced the way they had. The truth was that they enjoyed teasing Kita too much to argue. Pom-Pom bounced on Kita's head for attention. "And we can't forget Pom-Pom the pomu."

"Well, thanks for helping me out with the heartless Ti-Day and Ni-Ne," Hercules thanked them. "They've been floating around here for a while now. Usually I'd take them on in the arena, but they caught me off guard."

"Sounds like your world needs sealed," Sora jumped in. "That's why I've come."

"Good luck finding the keyhole," Hercules said. "I don't even know where it is. You guys want to camp here for the night?"

"That would be great," Kita said. She was the only one from her ship that wasn't able to rest up and she was starting to feel it.

"You look tired," Riku said. "Need me to carry you?"

"NO!" Kita shouted at him. The group followed Hercules to the Coliseum where they'd be spending the night.


	11. Memories

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Memories- Chapter 11

Kita woke with a jolt as her heart began to ache. It was the middle of the night in Olympus Coliseum. Kita and Ni-Ne Nite had to bunk together to make room for all the guys who came along for the trip. Kita rolled over and bumped Ni-Ne on accident. She was surprised to see Ni-Ne awake, starting almost lifelessly up into the sky above. "Hey, are you ok?" Kita asked groggily.

"You can feel him too can't you?" Ni-Ne asked, still staring off into space.

"Who?" Kita said feeling a little confused.

"Ansem…" Ni-Ne explained. "That pain in your heart. He's following us," Ni-Ne finished in almost a whisper.

"Wait, how did you know my heart was hurting?" Kita asked now a little freaked out by Ni-Ne's supernatural telepathic powers.

Ni-Ne slowly took her gaze off of the sky and looked deeply into Kita's eyes. "You've felt it before haven't you? The bond we share?" she asked seriously. "When I slit my wrist back home. I saw you jump. You could feel what I felt." Kita thought back to the event. It was true though she hadn't mentioned it to anyone. "My blood flows through your veins too," Ni-Ne explained.

Kita laid her head down on the bed to think. It wasn't her favorite subject, but obviously she couldn't hide it from Ni-Ne anymore. "So you felt that pain just now too?"

"Yes…" Ni-Ne answered. "I can sense that it is Ansem's anger. He knows we are out here to fight against him." Kita watched Ni-Ne speak with a dreamy look on her face.

Kita felt tears growing in her eyes. Her father wasn't easy to talk about. He was supposed to be her guardian and caregiver. Someone who would always be there for her and guide her in growing up. Yet, he had tried to kill her. He didn't love her. He used her. Sometimes Kita would have dreams about the days when her father had been a loving one. He wasn't always evil, but something had changed as Kita grew up. Her heart hardened along with his as she built up a wall around her heart to protect it from the world that would only turn against her. Tears started to roll down her cheek as she sat and remembered her past.

"I'm sorry," Ni-Ne said seeing Kita cry for the first time. Kita got out of bed without another word and ran away out into the Coliseum arena that was lit by the moon above. She fell to the ground and cried her eyes out, releasing pain from her heart. Only minutes later, someone came.

"Hey, it's ok," a voice said from a corner of the arena. It was Ti-Day who was apparently awake as well and had noticed Kita's mad dash. He ran over to comfort her and see what was the matter. He knelt down on the ground next to her and put his arm over her shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked, sounding sad himself.

Kita tried to wipe the tears away even though it was pointless by now. "N-n-nothing," Kita struggled to say through the tears.

"No, something is wrong," Ti-Day said firmly. He wasn't going to let Kita brush this off like it was nothing. "Tell me," he demanded of her.

"Ju-just thinking," Kita said. "I-I just don't un-understand what happened. My dad u-use to care a-about me."

"I see," Ti-Day said, catching on to what the problem was. Kita had often struggled with the subject in her life while growing up and seeing her father drift farther and farther away. "What about all those times I told you to be brave?"

"I tried!" Kita cried out. "It's a lot harder than y-you think."

"Oh really?" Ti-Day replied. "Both my parents died when I was only seven. Don't you think that was hard to live with?" Kita hung her head low. Ti-Day also knew what pain was all about. How he could deal with two losses and still be as bubbly and annoying as his always was, was a mystery. "Remember that time you and me snuck into Leon's house and took his boxers and hung them out on the castle balcony?"

Kita smiled. It was probably one of the stupidest, but funniest things she had ever let Ti-Day talk her into doing. Even then, Ansem use to laugh at their pranks.

"And how about that time we used all the dish soap from the kitchens to make a slip-n-slide down one of the hallways?" Ti-Day asked playfully.

Kita laughed this time. "And Leon came to yell at us and slipped and fell and knocked over every suit of armor," she finished the story.

"Yeah see, not everything was bad," Ti-Day tried to explain. "We had a great time. I guess you just have to accept what life throws at ya, you know?"

"You're right," Kita admitted. "Thanks Ti-Day. You always know how to make me feel better." Kita lobbed her arms around Ti-Day's neck into an aggressive hug, knocking him sideways.

"Hey you two, it's way past your bedtime!" came a voice in the shadows. It was Riku who had apparently been spying on Kita and Ti-Day the whole time. Kita gave him an evil glare in disgust. To think he was just hiding there all along while she balled her eyes out. "You should really think about going back to bed," Riku said as he looked at Kita, like it wasn't something she was thinking about doing.

Kita got up looking at Riku like he was some kind of joke. She had forgotten entirely about the state of her face drenched with tears. "Thanks again Ti-Day," she said as she then stormed away back to her room.

"Is she gonna be ok?" Riku asked Ti-Day very seriously.

"Yeah. Thanks for letting me know she was out here," Ti-Day thanked Riku as he too made his way back to bed. Riku turned his head to look back in the direction Kita had gone with a look of concern on his face. He was really worried about her, but assumed since she hadn't come running back, that she would be all right.

Kita slowly and tiredly made her way back to her room where Ni-Ne had managed to fall asleep again while she was gone. Kita plopped herself back down on the bed, exhausted. She closed her eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

"Look daddy, I made you a heart out of paper!" Kita said holding up a little pink cutout in the shape of a heart.

"That's beautiful Kita," Ansem said taking the heart from his daughter. "I'll keep it with me all the time." Kita smiled at her dad as he pat her on the head. "You're so cute. Just like your mother."

"Was mommy pretty?" Kita asked curiously.

"The prettiest woman I've ever seen," Ansem explained. He had told this story to Kita countless times, but she seemed to like hearing it. "She had glowing pink eyes like yours and soft white hair,"

"Just like mine!" Kita asked in anticipation even though she already knew the answer.

"Yep, just like yours," Ansem said laughing.

"Do you miss mommy?" Kita asked innocently.

"Everyday," Ansem said sadly, but trying to stay cheerful for Kita's sake. At least having his daughter filled his heart with joy since his wife had gone away.

"Will we ever see her again?" Kita asked.

"I hope so," Ansem answered. "I hope with all my heart we do."

"I love you daddy!" Kita said giving him a big hug.

"I love you too Kita," Ansem said kissing Kita on the forehead.

The next morning, Kita was the last of the entire group to wake. Not only had she gotten up in the middle of the night, but she was one of the few who didn't get to take a nap on the way to Olympus Coliseum. She made her way to the kitchens to have breakfast with everyone else. Her eyes were badly swollen from crying so much.

"You gonna be all right?" Ti-Day asked, when Kita finally sat down in the kitchen. He had great concern written all over his face. Even though Ti-Day was usually one to take full advantage of a rough morning to irritate Kita, he knew better and used the chance to show he cared. Ni-Ne, who was seated on the other side of Kita, looked just as sympathetic as Ti-Day did towards Kita.

Sora looked at Kita with great confusion. He was unaware of the night's events. "Is everything ok?" he asked, trying to be nice.

"Yeah, I just had a dream about my father last night, that's all," Kita explained.

"Really?" Riku cut in. "You mean Ansem? The guy we're chasing?"

Kita looked as though she still hadn't forgiven Riku for his lack of concern last night when he had chose to stand back in the shadows and watch Kita suffer. "Yeah," she said in a snotty way.

Riku decided against taking the conversation any further before Kita was reared and ready to go chasing him around with her key blade again. He sat down and kept quite for the remainder of breakfast.

"I'm really sorry Kita," Hercules said, speaking for the first time this morning. "I know how hard it must be."

"You have no idea," Kita said sipping her tea. Breakfast for the most part was pretty quite. But after wards they all decided to use the Coliseum arena for some practice. It was good for getting their blood flowing and warming up their skills just incase anything unexpected came along.

While they were all busy fighting one on one, someone unexpectedly showed up. There was a great flash of blue light that nearly blinded everyone and caused Ni-Ne, Kita and Sora to fall to the ground.

"What's the big idea!" Donald shouted as he prepared his magic staff for striking. Everyone looked in the direction the big blue light had come from.

"HADES!" Hercules shouted recognizing at once who it was.

"That's right squirt," Hades, the god of the underworld said, making sure everyone else knew. "How's come I wasn't invited to your little party Herc?"

Hercules looked furious. He made his way forward as if to protect the others. "What are you doing here!" he asked angrily.

"I brought a surprise for you," Hades said sounding devilish. "Ta da!" From behind him charged a man with blond hair and a huge fighting sword. Hercules was caught off guard and stumbled back. "HA HA HA!" Hades laughed in victory as he waited to see Hercules sliced to bits. The blond haired man looked pure evil himself as he took his first swing at Hercules.

"STOP!" Ni-Ne shouted holding up her key blade and casting the time spell. The blond haired man was frozen in time. Hercules almost fainted. He had been spared by a mere fraction of a second. Hades eyed Ni-Ne who had just foiled his little plan, but Ni-Ne stared back, not even the least bit scared of him.

Kita came running over to Hercules, but when she got there, she was more interested in the blond haired man. "Cloud?" She said staring at the frozen figure. Ti-Day had run over as well. Kita pulled Hercules out of harms way since he was too stunned to move on his own.

"Release!" Ti-Day shouted as the blonde haired man unfroze and sliced down into the ground so hard he split the stone. "Cloud?" Ti-Day asked.

"Ti-Day?" Cloud said, a bit confused. "Kita?" he said turning to see Kita, who was standing nearby as well. "How did you guys get here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Ti-Day said. "But if you must know, we're here helping the Key Blade Master."

"He's here?" Cloud asked. Sora stepped forward yielding the Kingdom Key Blade. "I see." Hades looked outraged at the fact that his plan was failing more and more as each minute passed. His henchman who he had hired to kill Hercules was now making chitchat with his friends, forgetting completely why he was there in the first place.

"Excuse me, but we had a deal here!" Hades said, now flaming in bright blue fire. Hercules ran up behind Hades after regaining his composure and punched him so hard he was sent flying into the sky. Eventually he disappeared in a little puff of smoke.

"Sorry about that before," Cloud said to Hercules. "That guy's been going on and on about trying to kill you, but I think I see who's the real bad guy. Any friend of Kita and Ti-Day is a friend of mine."

"Well, what are you doing here?" Kita asked. "The last time I saw you was probably at the Hallow Bastion Ball. That was ages ago."

"Well, you kinda disappeared yourself," Cloud said. "I left cause I thought you ran away."

"It wasn't her fault," Ti-Day interjected. "It was Ansem's fault." Ti-Day felt he had to stick up for Kita since she had just had a rough enough night and shouldn't let Cloud rub it back in. "It's not important now."

"I guess," Cloud said. "I need to get a move on. I hate staying in one place for too long."

"Will you help us?" Ni-Ne asked quietly walking right in front of Cloud causing him to make a sudden stop.

"And you are?" Cloud asked.

"Ni-Ne Nite, the Heartless Hybrid," Ni-Ne explained. "If you're really friends with Kita and Ti-Day, then you should help us find Ansem."

"I work alone, got it?" Cloud said sternly.

"Please Cloud," Kita said giving him puppy dog eyes.

"If I see him I'll give him a good beat down," Cloud said. "But I'm not traveling in your little kid party." Cloud was considerably older than everyone in the group and not much of a people person. He made his way to the arena's exit. "Take care of that Key Blade Master will ya? He's our only hope." And with that, Cloud made his exit.

"How do you all know this guy?" Riku asked.

"He's my distant cousin," Kita explained.

"Ah, I can see the resemblance. That stiff attitude and everything," Riku said jokingly. Kita spun around and slammed Riku in the head with her key blade, this time actually getting him. She laughed and ran behind Ti-Day to use him as a shield. Ti-Day smiled just to see Kita having fun again.


	12. Crash Landing

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Crash Landing-Chapter 12

It was time to move on. Everyone was bustling and packing up to leave Olympus Coliseum and head out to other worlds. Hercules was planning on coming this time as well. The problem was that everyone was fighting over who would ride in which ship. For the most part, Sora, Goofy and Donald didn't mind sticking together, but Kita's ship was going to get awfully heavy if everyone else jumped into hers.

"I'm going on Kita's ship whether you like it or not!" Hercules was shouting in Riku's face. Riku had been guarding the entrance to Kita's Gummi Ship while Ni-Ne and Kita packed up.

"I'm telling you, this ship's full," Riku said rather calmly into Hercules' red face.

"Who says? I've known Kita longer than you," Hercules tried to reason. "So move your butt on over with your friend Sora into the other ship!"

"My stuff's already on this one," Riku said, now starting to get a little agitated. "What's the matter? Allergic to ducks or something?"

"Hey!" Donald said hearing Riku's cruel joke. "Why I otta-,"

"Come on Donald, we've gotta keep packing," Goofy said trying to stop Donald from lashing out on Riku.

"Listen Riku, I'm getting on this ship whether you like it or not!" Hercules screamed. He dropped all his stuff on the spot and reached down and picked Riku up right off his feet. Riku bit down on Hercules arm and caused him to yell loudly. Riku dropped to the ground then proceeded to kick Hercules feet out from under him. It only took a millisecond for Hercules to shoot his arm out and grab Riku's wrist as he began to twist it.

"AHHH!" Riku shouted feeling as though his arm were about to break. The two boys were going at it like wolves. Everyone else had completely stopped what they were doing to stare at the pathetic sight.

"FREEZE!" Ni-Ne shouted casting a spell that caused Hercules and Riku to freeze instantly. They were still trying to yell at each other despite the fact their mouths didn't move anymore and it came out sounding like ferocious mumbles. "That was getting annoying," Ni-Ne said walking over to the entangled boys.

Ti-Day cast a hover charm causing the two to lift up into the air. "I think we should separate them," Ti-Day suggested. "I call dibs on Riku, so Herc can go with you Sora."

"Um, thanks?" Sora said not sure what to think. He was hoping Hercules wouldn't want to start a fight with him too. Ti-Day pried the two apart and hovered each of them into a separated ship.

"No unfreezing until take off, got it?" Ti-Day said carelessly throwing Hercules luggage into Donald's Gummi Ship. "Kita, I hope you don't mind me picking Riku? Less stuff to move around."

"Well, I guess as long as all three of you aren't with me, I'll live," Kita said with a strange look on her face. She wasn't all that fond of Hercules or Riku because as far as she was concerned, they were both annoying. "Good thinking though Ni-Ne. I won't mind if you keep the spell on them for the rest of eternity," Kita said smiling. Ni-Ne laughed.

"Are we ready now?" Donald asked as he had finished packing and was more than eager to get a move on.

"Yeah, lets go," Kita said sounding business like. Everyone jumped onto their ship and they were off, flying through space once more.

The journey was quite. Ni-Ne had obviously taken Kita seriously and kept the freeze spell on Riku. Though he couldn't move his body, his eyes were undoubtedly staring up at Ni-Ne evilly. He just stared and stared and Ni-Ne never once gave in to free him. It was amusing to listen to him mumble. Pom-Pom made it his job to bounce on Riku as many times as possible.

"I think he said I'd like a banana split," Ti-Day joked. Everyone laughed. Apparently Ti-Day had made a game out of it. Most often he would say something as far away from what it sounded like as possible. "No, I don't have any nail clippers!" he shouted at Riku who seemed to groan louder and louder every time Ti-Day spoke.

"You're funny Ti-Day," Ni-Ne said who was laughing so hard her face was pink.

"I try," Ti-Day said, boasting about himself.

"We're loosing altitude!" Kita shouted shaking the controls. Everyone tensed up looking forward in panic. "Ti-Day, your gonna have to jump! The ship's too heavy. Your head's getting too big!" Kita started laughing. Ni-Ne and Ti-Day looked like they'd just seen a ghost.

Riku started laughing as though it had somehow been his joke. Kita spun her head around and glared at him. He shut up instantly. He was in no position to push buttons since he couldn't move at all. Eventually Ni-Ne and Ti-Day had calmed their nerves and found it in their hearts to forgive Kita for such a big scare. Not long after, Donald's voice came over the intercom and announced the approach to another world. Everyone but Riku was able to look out the window and see a jungle type world ahead.

"Man that's a lot of trees," Ti-Day said gazing out at the world below. Having lived in Hallow Bastion their whole life, Kita and Ti-Day had only known to be surrounded by water. The jungle below seemed to glow green with forestation.

"Donald, where are we going to land?" Kita asked looking down on the heavily vegetated forest.

"Just follow me," Donald said steering his Gummi Ship down towards the world. Closer and closer they swooped through the trees. Kita was having trouble steering through all the trunks and vines without snagging anything.

"Slow down Donald!" Kita shouted feeling panicky. All of the sudden Donald's ship hit an invisible wall and came crashing down. Kita was in shock, as she tried to avoid the same fate. She was going too fast to stop. They were heading off in a diagonal, but somehow the invisible wall must have moved and Kita's ship slapped the corner of it and sent the ship spiraling out of control in another direction.

"AHH!" Everyone was yelling in the ship. They spun and tumbled several hundred feet away from Donald's ship and finally slammed firmly into the ground. Kita was thrown from the ship, as was everyone else. Kita's head hit a tree and she blacked out.

"Hey, are you ok?" Riku's voice was saying airily. Kita slowly opened her eyes. There before her was a fuzzy vision of Riku who appeared to be unfrozen.

"What?" Kita said, feeling a huge headache coming on and a large bump on her head. Kita tried to get up, but only managed to stand for a second or two before feeling so dizzy she began to sway and then started to fall.

"I gotcha. Careful now," Riku said catching her before she hit the ground. His embrace was strong and protective. Kita was too weary to fling him off. "You hit a tree after we crashed," Riku informed her.

"Where's Ti-Day and Ni-Ne?" Kita asked sounding almost drunk.

"I'm not sure," Riku said, still hanging on to the limp Kita. "I could hear them screaming while I was still frozen. I think something carried them off."

Kita seemed to find some of her old composure. "How did you get unfrozen?" she asked.

"I'm guessing the spell wore off," Riku said sensing Kita was slowing coming back to her old self. "But I'm glad or else I couldn't have come over here and found you. Who knows what would have eaten you."

"I wasn't gonna get eaten," Kita said irritably.

"Well I'm not that confident about Ti-Day and Ni-Ne," I have no idea where they are and they sounded pretty bad. Kita looked to the ground. She was worried about them. And worse, she was in no shape to go rescuing them. But worst of all, she was now stuck alone with Riku.

"You guys alright?" Hercules asked Donald, Goofy and Sora who he had took the liberty of rescuing from the crashed Gummi Ship and piling them all on top of one another.

"Get off of me!" Donald yelled being crushed by Goofy and Sora's weight. Sora and Goofy rolled off, both rubbing their heads.

"What happened?" Sora asked. "We were just flying and out of nowhere we hit a wall?"

"It was invisible!" Donald said in his defense. "I didn't see anything there."

"Maybe it was a h-heartless," Goofy said sounding scared.

"I hope not," Sora said. "That thing would have to be huge!"

"You never know," Donald said. "Heartless come in many shapes and sizes. I wonder how Kita and the others made it by."

"I saw them hit it too," Hercules said. "They nicked it and flew off someplace else. They could be miles away by now."

"This is just great," Donald said. "Now we have to go round up all the kids again."

"Don't say it like that," Hercules said looking agitated. "They could be in big trouble. Hopefully they're not hurt. By the looks of it they needed a miracle not to have all died in a crash." Suddenly the group was surrounded by a bunch of squealing heartless that looked like monkeys. "This complicates things."

"Powerwilds!" Goofy said, pointing at them in fear.

Sora looked up at all the heartless. He had come to save these worlds from their plagues of heartless, and now it was time to do it. He jumped up on his feet, drew his Key Blade, and stood ready to kick butt. "Bring it on," he said, and soon all his pals were doing the same.

"Let her go!" Ti-Day shouted trying to keep up with some heartless who had captured Ni-Ne. One of the heartless kept knocking Ti-Day over causing him to fall farther and farther behind and unable to reach Ni-Ne and save her. But his heart was too strong to give up. He keep getting back up again and again, ready to fight.

"Help, Ti-Day!" Ni-Ne screamed. She had lost use of her key blade and was being held tightly.

"Ni-Ne!" Ti-Day shouted, running after her, hardly able to see where the heartless were headed next. Up ahead he could see a cave the heartless must have been headed for.

Ni-Ne was brought into the cave and immediately a stone was rolled over the entrance that would prevent Ti-Day from getting in. She was carelessly thrown to the ground before a few more heartless grabbed her and tied her up in a tangle of jungle vines. A man's laugh was heard in the darkness of the cave.

"Well well, look who we have here," he said, cackling evilly. Ni-Ne struggled to free herself from the vines when the silhouette of the man appeared over her head.

"So, you're the infamous Ni-Ne Nite, the Heartless Hybrid," the man said. "No wonder Ansem wanted you and Maleficent."

"Who is Maleficent?" Ni-Ne asked. "And who are you!" she screamed getting annoyed from being bonded on the ground the way she was.

"The name's Clayton," he said. Behind him a gigantic heartless appeared. It looked like a chameleon as it slowly went from invisible to solid form. The giant Stealth Sneak followed him and cooed. "Maleficent is a witch interested in opening the door to the Darkness. I heard that's where all the heartless live and are created. Maybe..." His head turned and he stared into Ni-Ne's eyes. Ni-Ne was starting to get scared. It was bad enough being hunted down by Ansem, and now she had this Clayton and Maleficent to worry about.

There was a rapping noise coming from the stone that had been rolled over the cave opening. It must have been Ti-Day who had finally caught up. "Ti-Day, help me!" Ni-Ne shouted since she couldn't move. "I'm in here!"

"Ni-Ne! I'll get you out!" Ti-Day shouted on the other side. His voice was muffled through the thick stone.

"It's hopeless for you now," Clayton said laughing at Ni-Ne. "He'll never get in!"

"What to do, what to do," Ti-Day was saying to himself. A faint picture came to his head. He remembered back to the time he and Kita had arrived at Halloween Town and he had first used his all-powerful staff. "Ah ha!" Ti-Day cracked his fingers, raised his staff and concentrated on the huge bolder blocking his path to Ni-Ne. "OBLIDERATE!" he shouted, and the bolder blew to bits. As the dusty smoke cleared, Ti-Day ran forward leaving all his fear behind him. "I'm coming Ni-Ne!"


	13. Dark Encounters

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Dark Encounters-Chapter 13

"It feels like we've been walking around in circles," Kita complained. She was hot and tired and still feeling unwell from the crash.

"I'll admit, it would help if we had a map of this place. It all looks the same to me," Riku said looking around. He was hot and tired too. Kita plopped down on the ground to lean on a tree and rest until her head stopped spinning.

"You alright?" Riku asked.

"Does it look like it?" Kita asked thinking it was a rather stupid question.

"Irritable aren't you?" Riku pointed out. "Is something wrong?"

"Umm, I have a huge headache, we're lost, it's freaking hot out here and I'm stuck listening to you," Kita stated feeling annoyed.

"You complain too much, Kita." Riku sighed.

Kita felt her blood boil. She growled and stood up. She started to run like a raging bull and tackled defenseless Riku knocking him to the ground. She grasped his collar tightly and stared at him. Riku looked up in shock and gulped.

"Look, you egotistical worm! We we've been stuck in this wretched jungle for hours. There's only trees… bugs… more trees and more bugs!"

"Cool it girl!" Riku said pushing Kita off of him with little effort. "You didn't do any mental damage hitting that tree did you?" Kita slapped Riku across the face. It was an entirely different gesture than anytime she had hit him with her key blade. The look on her face was enough to say she was dead serious. Riku just started into her eyes without the guts to say anything else. He had hit a nerve. All he could think to himself was how could someone possibly be this angry all the time?

"What's wrong with you?" Riku asked daringly. Kita's face was beat red. Just her expression looked like she was holding back an explosion. But for some reason, instead of letting it out, she got up and walked a few tree's distance away. She bent down on the ground cowering in a crouched position.

At first she was just silent, then she said so quietly to herself, "This is all your fault."

"What?" Riku asked, hearing her say something.

"Nothing," Kita said sounding frustrated. She kept bend down in her huddled position.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Riku asked, not sure what to do.

"No," Kita said stoutly. For a while, neither Kita nor Riku said a word. But the silence was broken by the sound of twigs breaking somewhere in front of Kita causing her to look up. For a moment, she was frozen with fear. Right in front of her stood a huge gorilla. She gasped and ran back towards Riku and leapt right onto him, climbing him like a tree.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Riku said as Kita's body was now covering his face so he couldn't see.

"G-g-gorilla!" Kita said clinging to Riku.

Riku had to pry Kita off his head, but she seemed so keen to hang on for her dear life. As he was finally able to peer around her and see the gorilla, he saw that it was just standing there looking at them rather harmlessly. "Aww, you mean to tell me you'll run up to any heartless, but you run from harmless gorillas?"

"I-I've never actually seen one before. It's so big!" Kita said shaking in fear.

"Kala?" a woman's voice said. "Kala? Where did you go?" The gorilla turned its head in the direction the voice was coming from and made a grunting noise. "Kala, is that you?" the woman said getting closer and closer. Soon the woman was in sight and Kita and Riku watched her coming through the trees.

"Kala, there you are," the woman said. "Oh, who are you?" she asked spotting Kita and Riku.

"I'm Riku and this is Kita," Riku introduced them both. "She was scared by the gorilla," he said explaining why Kita was hanging on him.

The woman laughed. "This gorilla? She's harmless."

"See you big baby, there's nothing to be scared of," Riku said putting Kita back down on the ground. Kita stuck her tongue out at him just to show her appreciation for his smart remark.

"I'm Jane, by the way," the woman introduced herself. "Can't say that I've ever seen you around here before."

"We came from another world," Kita explained. "There were a few more, but we go separated after we crashed here. We really came to seal the key hole to this world and prevent the heartless from getting in."

"Thank goodness," Jane said with relief. "They've been destroying everything. I live in a camp not far from here, and they're always trashing it. Clayton said he was working on getting rid of them, but he's not doing a very good job."

"Clayton?" Riku asked.

"We hired him to protect our camp when my father and I came here to study the gorilla's, but we found out he had hunting gorillas in mind instead," Jane explained. "But when the heartless started showing up, he agreed not to hunt gorilla's anymore, and just focused on getting rid of heartless instead." In the distance there was a strange yell. It was definitely a man, and sounded something like a battle cry. "Ah, Tarzan's here." A muscular man wearing nothing but a piece of cloth swung down out of the trees and landed next to Jane. "Tarzan, this is Kita and Riku. They've come to get rid of the heartless."

"Good. Friends," Tarzan said coming up to Kita and checking her out. Kita just stood there looking a little shocked and weirded out.

"Tarzan doesn't speak much English," Jane explained. "He was raised by the gorillas, so I'm always trying to figure him out."

Tarzan crawled back over to Jane and the gorilla. "Heartless, jungle." Tarzan said.

"What's this now?" Jane said looking at Tarzan as he nervously bounced around.

"Heartless, jungle. Clayton. A girl. Trouble," Tarzan managed to say.

"A girl?" Riku said. "Kita, you don't think it's Ni-Ne do you?"

"Heartless, trouble? I hope not," Kita said trying to figure out what Tarzan was saying. "But I think he knows Clayton is there."

"Clayton is suppose to go after the heartless," Jane said. "Maybe a heartless got one of your friends. Tarzan, lead the way!" Tarzan, Jane, Riku, Kita and the gorilla took off deeper into the jungle.

Ti-Day had charged into the cave in search of Ni-Ne. It was quite dim, but still with an open top, and now a hole in the wall, it was still easy enough to see around the cave. After the dust had settled, Ti-Day finally spotted Ni-Ne being strung up on the wall by vines. He ran towards her and started pulling at the vines to free her.

"Hurry Ti-Day," Ni-Ne said sounding scared. Suddenly there was a loud gunshot. The bullet hit the cave wall right next to Ti-Day and shattered the stone. He was frozen.

"I missed," said Clayton's voice as he walked out into the center of the cave.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you," Ti-Day said. "THUNDER!" Ti-Day shouted with his staff pointed at Clayton. A bolt of lightning struck Clayton from the sky above the cave causing him to fall in pain. "FREEZE!" Ti-Day shouted causing Clayton to become immobile. Standing over Clayton Ti-Day held the sharp end of his staff high, ready to strike down. "Let her go or die."

Clayton laughed on the floor, which seemed odd since he was clearly in trouble. Or was he? The Stealth Sneak that had become invisible before Ti-Day's arrival, now revealed itself. It stood over him blocking the light from a top the cave. With one swift blow it knocked Ti-Day's staff right out of his hands. The only thing Ti-Day could think to do was run and get it back because it was his greatest source of strength, but the Sneak had other plans. It grabbed Ti-Day in its claws and squeezed him.

"Now see here boy, your little magic tricks won't work on me," Clayton said standing up from the ground. "I have special powers to back me up. You on the other hand have no hope left." Without warning the Sneak threw Ti-Day up against the wall. Ni-Ne screamed. Ti-Day's legs had broken and too far away from his magic staff he couldn't heal himself. He lay on the ground in pain dreading what would come next. Clayton approached with his gun in hand. He slowly raised it, aiming carefully for Ti-Day's heart.

Ti-Day stared up in fear seeing his life flash before his eyes.

"_THAT'S ENOUGH_!" a strange voice said from behind Clayton. Clayton stepped aside and turned around to see who was there. It was Ni-Ne. She had managed to free herself from the wall and was now staring Clayton down with a look of pure evil on her face. Her eyes were glowing a brilliant golden yellow making her look possessed. And strangest of all was that when she spoke, her voice sounded so much older than usual. Ti-Day too was staring at her feeling confused.

"How did you get out?" Clayton asked, keeping his gun close.

"_Let him go_," Ni-Ne said. Her eyes were like lasers pointing at Clayton aiming for a target.

"There's no way either of you are escaping me!" Clayton said shooting his gun at Ni-Ne. However this possessed Ni-Ne was fast. She managed to draw her key blade and block the bullet causing it to fly off in some other direction. Clayton's jaw dropped in shock. The evil look on Ni-Ne's face only grew meaner as her grip tightened on her key blade.

"_You'll pay for that_!" Ni-Ne said moving at lightning speed towards Clayton who was ready to run away. However he had no choice but to fight back because this strange Ni-Ne was ready to fight to the death.

"Stealth Sneak, stop her!" Clayton shouted. But the heartless did not come. There was something about Ni-Ne that seemed heartless herself that could perhaps explain why the heartless no longer obeyed Clayton. Ni-Ne had her key blade pressing down on Clayton's neck, strangling him. Ti-Day watched on, glad to have been rescued, but still a little worried about this blood thirsty Ni-Ne. Clayton raised his arm up slowly to attempt to strangle Ni-Ne, but she saw his hand before he had a chance to act. Ni-Ne lifted her key blade up and then swung it down with all her might. The key blade went right into Clayton's chest.

"AHHH!" Clayton screamed in pain. Ti-Day cringed at the sight. A glowing pink heart floated out of Clayton's chest and rose into the air momentarily before disappearing. Ni-Ne slowly lifted her key blade out of Clayton's chest. Clayton's limbs all went limp, as he seemed to pass out lifelessly as though loosing his very soul. Ni-Ne herself seemed to look less tense than before, even a little sluggish. She started to sway and finally collapsed on the ground.

"Ni-Ne?" Ti-Day said, trying to drag himself over to her. "Are you ok?" he asked managing to poke her. She just laid there limp and motionless.

"Ti-Day! Ni-Ne!" Kita's voice sounded from the entrance of the cave. Kita, Riku, Tarzan and Jane had entered the cave one right after another. "Ti-Day, what happened?"

"Ni-Ne, she killed him…" Ti-Day said pointing at Clayton. "She was all… strange."

"He's not dead," Riku said examining Clayton. "He's lost his soul. His heart."

"Are you all right?" Jane asked as she examined Ti-Day. "I think your legs are broken."

"Yeah it was -," Ti-Day started to explain, but soon the problem revealed itself. The Stealth Sneak had stepped away from the cave wall revealing its presence once more. "That," Ti-Day finished his statement.

"Oh crap," Kita said looking up at the huge heartless. She started to back away slowly. Tarzan grabbed Ni-Ne and slung her over his shoulder. The Sneak was eyeing Kita down in front. It lashed at her without warning. Kita swung her key blade at it hoping to at least deflect the face, but it knocked her to the ground and managed to cut her arm with it's horn.

Riku jumped in the way and took his sword-like weapon and slit one of its eyes. It screeched so loud the whole cave shook. "Buzz off!" he yelled to it. Kita was rolling in pain on the ground. She grasped her bloody arm. "Come on babe, you're in the way," Riku said casually dragging Kita off to the side. He ignored the look of shock and disgusted on her face from his remark.

"STOP!" a voice said from the cave entrance. It was Sora, Goofy and Donald. Donald's magic had caused the Sneak to freeze in time.

"Need a hand?" Goofy said looking proud and ready to go.

"Bout time," Riku said with a smirk on his face. Sora ran up to his side.

"Let's do this," Sora said. He leapt forward and started repeatedly hitting the Sneak with the Key Blade. Riku followed his lead. When the Sneak unfroze, Donald and Goofy where there, ready to help. Donald cast highly damaging spells to weaken the beast. Kita sat and watched, holding the blood back from gushing out of her arm. Jane was trying to cover the wound for her, playing nurse for everyone who was injured.

"We've almost got him!" Riku said, still pounding the heartless.

"Take that!" Sora said doing a finishing combo that caused the heartless to fall flat on it's back. With one last hit, a pink heart floated out of the heartless, the same thing that had happened to Clayton. Slowly the heartless disintegrated into thin air.

"Good one Sora," Riku said giving Sora a noogie on the head.

"Thanks Riku," Sora said. "We make a great team. I just wish Kairi could be here with us." There was an awkward silence at the mentioning of Kairi's name. Sora really missed her and was forever worried about where she could be.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure she's out there having some adventure saying the same thing about you," Riku said smiling. Sora smiled seeming to feel a little better.

Ti-Day was sitting close to Ni-Ne's unconscious body. "Is she going to be all right?"

"As far as I can tell, she's just knocked out," Jane said in response. "She should be alright. Must have been under some great stress."

"Yeah," Ti-Day said thinking to himself. What had made Ni-Ne act the way she was? It was like she was someone else entirely. Not only that, but someone dark. Tarzan carried Ni-Ne while Goofy and Riku held Ti-Day up enough to walk as the group headed out of the cave and back to the camp where Jane lived.

"All right Tarzan, you can put the injured in here," Jane said pointing to a room in the tent that was closed off from the main part. Inside there were three beds. One for Ti-Day, one for Kita, and one for Ni-Ne. Tarzan carefully placed Ni-Ne into one of the beds. Jane helped Ti-Day and Kita into the other two. Jane placed a moist towel on Ni-Ne's head before she and Tarzan left the room.

Ti-Day and Kita looked at each other. "So… what happened?" Kita asked seriously. She had not been present when Ni-Ne had supposedly killed Clayton.

"Well, it's hard to say," Ti-Day explained. "The Sneak grabbed me and threw me against the wall. That was when my legs broke. Clayton was getting ready to kill me and Ni-Ne somehow freed herself from the vines. But she looked strange. Her eyes were glowing yellow and her voice wasn't her own. I don't know what was happening to her." Kita looked at Ti-Day as he spoke. She tried to imagine the scene in here mind.

"Jack said when he found Ni-Ne, she looked strange," Kita mentioned thinking it through. Maybe she was possessed then, or whatever it is that happens to her. She is part heartless. Something must have triggered the rage inside her heart and caused her to change like that. It's all very mysterious."

"I just hope she'll be ok," Ti-Day said looking admiringly to Ni-Ne's limp body.

"Maybe we should drink this potion stuff Donald made for us so we'll heal faster," Kita said looking at the bottle next to her bed. Kita took the bottle in her hands as Ti-Day did the same. "Cheers," she said taking a huge swig. The two downed their potion and decided it was best to take a nap and slowly let their injury pains drift away. "Rest well Ti-Day," Kita said rolling over and pulling the covers over her head.

"You too," Ti-Day said.

"Hey Ti-Day?" Kita asked.

"Yeah?" Ti-Day replied.

"Does this mean you'll finally give up asking her out?" Kita questioned.

"Not a chance," Ti-Day said cheerfully.


	14. Love With All Thy Heart

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Love With All Thy Heart -Chapter 14

"Rise and shine sleepy heads!" Hercules yelled aloud, entering the tent room where Kita, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne were resting. Kita secretly grabbed her key blade that was leaning against the head of her bed and as she bolted up, chucked the blade at Hercules. It hit him directly in the head. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"For waking me from my beauty sleep," Kita said laying back down again.

"Yikes," Hercules said rubbing his head.

"It's ok, she's just like that when people wake her up," Ti-Day said. "I can't even count the number of alarm clocks she's murdered…" He seemed more welcoming to the idea of getting up. "My legs feel fantastic. That was some great potion Donald made."

"Yeah, good thing he's here," Hercules said coming over to sit and talk with Ti-Day.

"That reminds me," Ti-Day began. "Where were you yesterday in the cave? I didn't see you anywhere."

"Oh, um…" Hercules looked as though he could have blushed. "Donald kinda put me in charge of finding the ships and getting them all gathered together again. And while I was doing this I noticed I'd been left alone. It wasn't until a few hours ago I stumbled upon this camp to find everyone was already here."

"Are you saying Donald, Goofy and Sora ditched you?" Ti-Day asked, looking shocked.

"Well…" Hercules said, not about to admit it.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Kita started to laugh as she shot up from her bed again. She was laughing so hard she was struggling to breathe. "That is TOO FUNNY!"

"Hey!" Hercules said looking offended. "I'm sure it was a mistake. Stop laughing!"

"Kita…" Ti-Day said, for the first time being the more mature of the two. Kita now had tears coming out of her eyes and she tried so hard to stop laughing.

"Ahh, that really is something," Kita said now wiping her eyes. Her face was beat red and a smile remained glued to her face. "I'm sorry."

Hercules kept silent even though he would have much preferred to yell, 'You better be!' Ti-Day was shaking his head in disapproval of Kita's laughter. He knew she didn't like the guy, but it was no reason to drag him through the mud. Ti-Day looked over to Ni-Ne's bed to see that she still looked as lifeless as before. "Man, I would have thought she'd have been awake by now."

Kita seemed to regain her composure and looked Ni-Ne's way as well. What had happened to her? Even though Kita's blood seemed to be bonded to Ni-Ne's, she wasn't having any sensation or feeling as to what Ni-Ne was going through. Kita stared down at her motionless body. Was there a chance Ni-Ne was lost in the shadows right now?

"Hey, do you want something to eat or not?" Hercules asked breaking Kita's concentration.

"Yeah, I guess," she said in an entirely different tone than before when she was laughing her head off. She took some food from Hercules and slowly ate it, looking as though it was hard to eat because she was sick or something. "Well, I think I'm gonna go talk to Tarzan and Jane," Kita said. "Wanna come with?"

"Sure," Hercules said, looking excited.

"Well, I wasn't talking to you, but whatever," Kita said coldly. Hercules looked both confused and shocked.

"I think I'll stay here," Ti-Day said. "Incase Ni-Ne wakes up."

"Ok, come on… Herc," Kita said looking extremely sarcastic. She and Hercules left the separate room. Ti-Day, now with fully healed legs, jumped out of bed and walked over to Ni-Ne. He stared down at her, admiring her face.

"What happened?" he asked her, not really expecting any kind of answer from her since she was unconscious. Ti-Day looked down at her hand. He grasped it in his own and lifted it. He bent down and kissed it gently before placing it next to her side once more. He kept hold of her hand as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Ti-Day?" said a small, weak voice. Ti-Day opened his eyes. It was Ni-Ne. She had awakened.

"Ni-Ne!" Ti-Day said in relief. He still refused to let go of her hand. He knelt down closer to her. "Feeling alright?"

"Yeah," Ni-Ne said smiling. Ti-Day thought she was so pretty lying there, having just woken up. There was something calm and relaxed about her now that she was safely Ni-Ne again. "Thank you for watching out for me."

"I should be thanking you for saving my life," Ti-Day said. "I was almost a goner."

"What are you talking about?" Ni-Ne asked. She looked confused.

"You don't remember?" Ti-Day asked. "You saved me… You defeated Clayton to save me."

Ni-Ne stared up looking worried. "I did?" she said. "I only remember seeing you get captured by the Sneak. Nothing after that." Ti-Day looked into Ni-Ne's eyes. Was she really possessed before? How else would she not remember saving him? It wasn't really something that Ti-Day wanted to think about. Ni-Ne was ok now, and that was the only thing in the world that mattered to him.

Kita and Hercules walked through the tent to see that everyone else was sitting around having tea. "Good to see you up," Jane said with a smile. Kita walked passed Riku. She stopped and took a few steps back until she was right behind his back.

**WACK**! Kita punched Riku in the back of the head causing him to lean forward and spill his tea. "What the heck was that for?" Riku asked rubbing the new bump on his head.

"That was for calling me Babe," Kita said just before continuing on her way.

"Oh my. You two don't seem to get along very well do you?" Jane asked.

"Apparently not," Riku said. Kita took special care in seating herself across the room from Riku.

"Don't wake her up either," Hercules whispered to Riku as he sat beside him. "Not a smart move."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Riku said.

"Anyway, Sora, you were saying you were looking for the keyhole to this world?" Jane asked trying to get back to subject before Kita and Hercules had returned.

"Yeah, my key can seal it so the heartless will stop coming," Sora explained. "Any idea where it might be?"

"Yes," Tarzan said. Jane looked at him. "I will take you."

"Kita, are Ti-Day and Ni-Ne all right to stay here by themselves?" Jane asked. "We have to get to this keyhole at once."

"Well Ni-Ne should be ok, but you might want to get a babysitter for Ti-Day," Kita said thinking of how Ti-Day was always acting like such an immature kid.

"I heard that," Ti-Day called through the canvas wall. "I'll be good. I promise."

"Whatever," Kita said, thinking it couldn't possibly be true. "Well I suppose we should get moving. Hercules, you want to go gather the rest of the Gummi Ships?" Kita said jokingly. "I was kidding!" she said seeing the livid face Hercules was making.

Everyone except Ni-Ne and Ti-Day left to go find the keyhole to the jungle world. Ti-Day had jumped up onto Ni-Ne's bed to sit at her feet while she remained comfortably in bed. "So, tell me again why you won't go out with me?"

"You never give up do you?" Ni-Ne asked with a little laugh. Ti-Day just smiled like a kid waiting for his answer. "I guess I'm just afraid I'll end up hurting you," Ni-Ne explained.

"You saved my life!" Ti-Day pointed out enthusiastically. "I can't imagine you hurting me."

"I'm scared of myself sometimes," Ni-Ne said looking a little unsure. "I don't even remember saving you. Like I wasn't myself or something." Ni-Ne looked a little upset and so Ti-Day remembered something from his past he felt now would be a good time to share.

"One thing I'll always remember my mom telling me before she died, was her telling me to always love with all my heart," he said beginning his story. "She said if you don't let yourself love, then you'll never know the true happiness to be found in life. Unfortunately I don't think Kita's quite got the idea yet, and you've seen how she is. But I never forgot what my mom said, and you know… I'm happy. No matter what. Sure everything's been a mess lately, but there are still people in the world who care about people and love them enough to fight for them." Ti-Day looked as though he were getting lost in his thoughts. "I escaped the darkness because I knew there were people who needed me outside of it."

Ni-Ne had a few tears fall from her eyes. She had never really known love outside of the fatherly protection of Jack. Ti-Day never seemed scared by her and he persisted in getting closer and closer, no matter what happened. Was it true that someone in her life could care for her so much? Ni-Ne covered her eyes with her hands. "Would you be patient? Would you forgive me for what I may do because of what I am? Would you protect me from everyone who is after me? Would you really love someone… who's heartless?" Ni-Ne was now crying, her hands catching her own tears.

Ti-Day crawled up next to Ni-Ne and slowly pried her hands away from her face. Her watery, red eyes were revealed. She looked up into Ti-Day's eyes, a bit embarrassed by the tears. "Yes. I promise," Ti-Day said softly, looking truly and deeply into Ni-Ne's eyes. He wrapped one of his arms around her and placed the other on her wet cheek. He leaned in slowly and closed his eyes and kissed Ni-Ne tenderly on her lips.

Ni-Ne closed her eyes and kissed him back. Not pulling away, but embracing his affection.

"Sora, watch out!" Kita shouted as Sora was nearly squashed by some falling boulders. The group was climbing a rock wall behind a waterfall to reach the place Tarzan was leading them to. Tarzan had carried Jane to the top already leaving everyone else to fend for themselves. Kita, as stubborn as she always was, claimed she was heading up last so that none of the boys would look up her skirt.

"You know, I would have carried you," Riku said looking down at Kita who was having a hard time keeping up,

"Not in my lifetime you wouldn't," Kita said. Riku rolled his eyes and headed up again. Donald having feathers for hands was having a hard time climbing too.

"Forget this," Donald said pulling out his staff. "Fly!" Soon Donald was rising into the air with fairy dust behind him.

"That ain't even fair…" Kita said watching Donald glide to the top without effort. Donald had cast the spell on Goofy on his way up, and so only Sora, Riku, Hercules and Kita were left climbing.

Hercules seemed to be making it his duty to stay close to Kita for whatever reason. He kept looking down at her. "You know, we could catch up really fast if you let me help you," Hercules said.

"I remember you telling me you were really strong once," Kita said. "If that's true, then why the heck are you still down here with me?" Hercules just stared at her not answering the question. Kita slipped on a stone and barely caught herself before slipping off the wall. Hercules extended his arm out to her. Kita looked up to see him. She gave a look as to say 'you've got to be kidding me.' She thought for a moment, but finally decided to take Hercules's hand as he stared her down. Kita and Hercules finally got to the top much faster than it would have taken Kita to reach it alone.

"I see how it is. You just like Greek guys," Riku said jokingly. Kita however shoved Riku to the ground. "Is that all you got?" he taunted.

"Shut that annoying face of yours," Kita said following Tarzan and Jane to a cave in the wall.

"You guys should really stop fighting so much," Sora put in his words.

"It's her!" Riku said to Sora. "She's… crazy," he whispered.

"EERRRRR!" Kita shouted charging at Riku. But this time, Riku ran for it, into the cave, more afraid of what Kita was planning to do to him then what could possibly lay ahead. Everyone else had to jog to keep up with them. Riku ran full speed into the dark cave. Suddenly he was knocked to his feet by an unseen force. Kita had to slow herself down before trampling Riku and hitting the same thing. There was a cheerful little squeaky noise. "Pom-Pom!" Kita said. "I was wondering where you got to. Nice one knocking the dumb butt down."

Pom-Pom was pointing with his little feet to a glowing spot on the wall of the cave. There were a bunch of blue butterflies entwined in some vines covering a tree. They were steadily growing brighter and brighter.

"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Sora said entering the cave. He too had his eyes on the butterflies, failing to notice Riku who had temporarily been knocked out from his collision with Pom-Pom.

"Sora, seal it fast!" Donald said. The glow was growing brighter. Sora's Key Blade seemed to be drawn to the tree. He walked over to it holding the key up. A glowing keyhole finally revealed itself on the tree. Everyone, now glowing blue, watched the event. A bright stream of light came from Sora's Key Blade and connected the key and the lock. A little locking noise was heard coming from the tree. The glowing stream broke and the butterflies stopped glowing entirely.

"Fire!" Donald shouted, lighting his staff. Now everyone could see each other again.

"Aww, is this a friend of yours?" Jane said walking over to Pom-Pom. She pat him on the head. Two metal trinkets fell when she did so. "Oh, I was wondering where these got to," Jane said picking them up.

"Sorry," Kita said. "Pom-Pom, you should know better than to steal other people's things!"

"Actually these are for you," Jane said. "This one is for you Kita, and the other for Sora." Jane handed Kita a little silver flower keychain. And for Sora she had a little blue butterfly keychain. "The King gave them too me on his way through here. He said they were for your key blades."

"The King was here?" Goofy asked. "We've sorta been looking for him."

"Sorry Goofy. He didn't tell me where he was going," Jane explained. "He only said that some people would probably be coming through later on and that I was suppose to give them the key chains."

Sora attached his and immediately the Kingdom Key Blade transformed into a jungle styled one. It was made of bones and tropical tree bark. Now it was longer and more powerful than before. "Awesome," Sora said examining it.

Kita did the same with her silver flower. Her key didn't change completely. It remained silver with the same pink handle, but now the end of it had morphed into stainless steal passionflower. Kita already knew her key blade had no magic power, but could this be the special power that King Mickey had told her about? It was able to transform into a greater and stronger weapon. "They should help you fight the heartless wherever you may go," Jane said.

"Thanks," Sora said. "I guess we should get going since so many other worlds need our help."

"He's right," Riku said. "We're still looking for a friend of ours and staying around here won't get her found."

"Well if you ever need anything, you know where to find us," Jane said with a smile. "Good luck, and thank you for stopping the heartless from entering this world." Tarzan smiled and bowed his head in appreciation as well.

"We should go pick up Ti-Day and Ni-Ne right away," Kita said making her way back to the rock wall. "If Ni-Ne's awake by now, I wouldn't be surprised if Ti-Day's been harassing her about dating the entire time. So the sooner we get back the better." And so everyone slowly made their way back to camp.

GO TI-DAY! Putting the moves on Ni-Ne, lol. It was cute though. I think after three chapters the Warriors of Light will finally be moving on to another world. But which one? Riku's a dumb butt, lol! XD Now Kita won't have to complain about bugs and trees anymore, lol. Reviews?


	15. Wonderland

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Wonderland- Chapter 15

Everyone arrived back at Jane's tent. Kita was the first to run into the extra room and make sure Ti-Day was being nice to Ni-Ne. Nothing could prepare her for the sight she would encounter. Ti-Day was now laying next to Ni-Ne in her bed and they were both asleep, cuddling in each others arms. Kita tripped and landed hard on the floor. "TI-DAY! WHAT THE HE-," Before Kita could finish her sentence, Riku put his hand around Kita's mouth to prevent her from saying anything else.

"Watch your mouth," he said. "Don't make me get the soap."

Kita pried Riku off and continued her pursuit. "Ti-Day! What are you thinking!" she shouted. Ti-Day was covering his ears and looking up at Kita like she was insane.

"It's ok Kita, calm down," he said. Kita was pacing around freaking out about nothing. "I am older than you, I can make my own decisions."

"That doesn't mean they're smart ones!" Kita said approaching him with her arms out stretched ready to strangle him.

Riku again came after Kita. He grabbed her arms and brought them back behind her so she was powerless to use them. "Ok, leave him alone. No need to be jealous he chose Ni-Ne over you," Riku said pulling Kita away. However he didn't have to pull for long as in a split second Kita's rage was redirected.

"Jealous?" Kita said with a death glare in her eye. "You think I'm jealous of Ti-Day! You couldn't be more wrong if you tried!" Riku was backing away, but he didn't let go of Kita's arms for fear she would start using them against him.

"It's ok Kita," Ti-Day said, now standing in front of her looking at her seriously. "You don't have to stress about me." Ti-Day looked sort of dreamy the way he was looking at Kita. It was a look only Kita had ever known. So many times when they were littler, he had given her comfort in his words. The memories and feelings of always having Ti-Day by her side reminded Kita of the part of her past she actually liked. He was like an older brother to her, and maybe it was time to let him be the older one who could make his own choices.

Kita stopped fighting Riku's grip and limply hung her head. Ti-Day just smiled as though he were telepathically telling Kita 'Thank you.'

"How did you do that?" Riku said, his jaw dropping.

"Shh, It's magic Riku," Ti-Day whispered to Riku. He winked and walked away. Riku just stood there scratching his head feeling a little left out of the loop.

"We need to get going," Donald said staring up at the group. "There are still worlds waiting for us, so stop playing around and lets go! Hercules did you get those ships?"

"Yeah, but can I just say one thing," Hercules said. "Why'd you walk off like that? I was doing you a favor and you just leave!" Donald however wasn't listening. Nor was anyone else. Donald proceeded to check Ni-Ne and make sure she was good to go. "Did that potion world well?"

Ni-Ne was now out of bed and brushing her hair. "You gave me potion?" Ni-Ne asked, not recalling the event.

"I make potion for healing," Donald said sticking out his chest with pride. "So are you well?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Ni-Ne said smiling. "Thanks Donald," she said bending down to give him a hug. Before she left she could have sworn she saw him blush. Donald laughed a shy little laugh watching Ni-Ne walk away. Ti-Day mysteriously appeared above him, his toe tapping and arms crossed.

"Excuse me," he said. "She's mine." Donald looked scared and chose to run away as fast as he could.

Before long the group was ready to go. Jane and Tarzan stood outside the ships waving their visitors good-bye. Kita was more than ready to get out of the hot buggy jungle even if it meant another lovely ride with Riku and Ti-Day in store. Pom-Pom called shotgun and sat next to Kita as though he were going to help fly the ship. Ni-Ne and Ti-Day were exceptionally close together, hiding behind a box so they could kiss the whole trip. Riku, feeling left out moved to the front with Kita and Pom-Pom.

Kita was focused on driving. "So, when you gonna get yourself a boyfriend?" Riku asked.

"That's none of your business," Kita said.

"You've gotta have the hots for that Herc guy," Riku said.

"How bout no,' Kita said starting to fume.

"Well than go out with me?" Riku said.

"Not a chance," Kita said clearly.

"Come on," Riku said. "It's ridiculous how you're always playing Miss Independent. You have to have feelings? You're like a rock…"

"It's a long story," Kita explained. "One I don't particularly want to share with you."

"I don't care what your story is," Riku said. "I just think your missing out on life living with that wall built around you."

"I said, it's none of your business!" Kita shouted.

"That doesn't matter! What kind of person lives there whole life built on the problems they have?" Riku asked starting to fight back.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Kita screamed. The ship shook a bit as she was getting distracted fighting with Riku.

"No, I'm not letting this go!" Riku said, now standing, though in a Gummi Ship there was little room. "I know you hate my guts, but you need help!"

"SHUT UP!" Kita said now trying to use one hand to swat at Riku and using the other to steer.

Riku was dodging Kita's arms. He was well aware she wasn't paying attention to the driving anymore. "Um, you gonna drive the ship or what!"

"Oh I will," Kita said switching the autopilot on. "When I'm done murdering YOU!" Kita got up and started wrestling Riku to the ground. Ni-Ne and Ti-Day's intimate moment was cut short when Kita bumped into them rolling around on the ground.

"Yeah Kita!" Ti-Day joked, egging her on. Kita was far too concentrated on killing Riku to say anything about Ti-Day's remark. Ni-Ne was holding onto Ti-Day hoping he would protect her from the animals on the floor. But something caught her eye and she looked up and out the front window.

"Umm, Kita?" Ni-Ne said quietly. Kita didn't hear as she threw a punch into Riku's face. "Kita?" Ni-Ne said again. "KITA!" Ni-Ne shouted.

"What!" she said holding Riku down by the neck.

Ni-Ne jumped and gulped. "I just want to say that there is a weird intergalactic storm and we're heading right for it!" Ni-Ne said pointing ahead.

Kita looked up, still intent on holding Riku down who was turning blue because he couldn't breathe. "What the-. HOLY SHI-," Riku managed to swing his arm up and cover Kita's mouth.

"Watch the mouth," Riku struggled to say under the choking hand on his neck. Kita leapt for the controls as Pom-Pom bounced nervously next to her.

"KITA! We're heading right into a storm!" Donald shouted over the intercom.

"Thanks, I can see that!" Kita said frantically searching for something to get them in reverse. But it was too late. A strange orange lightening bolt hit the ship and caused its engine to die. "Oh crap…" Kita said feeling the ship fall beneath her feet. Everyone flew up into the ceiling of the ship into a free fall through space. And then everything went black…

Ni-Ne woke up and found herself in a hallway of doors... She was alone and called out for her friends. Then she found Pom-Pom under her dress. She looked down at her herself to find she was now wearing a poofy pink dress with a white apron over top and little black shoes. She even noticed a big red ribbon up in her hair. She got up off the floor and headed to one of the doors. She opened it to find another, smaller door behind it. So she opened it. Then there appeared another even smaller door behind that one. She started to look annoyed as she pulled the third door open. Finally a room was revealed. She had to craw through to fit. She found herself in a strange little room with a very small door across the way from her. She stared at Pom-Pom looking confused. Then she heard something. There was a little white rabbit coming in from behind her. She looked down between her legs to see that it wasn't really a rabbit, but Donald.

"I'm late, I'm late!" Donald said waddling around. He was running to the little door on the other side of the room.

"Donald?" Ni-Ne said trying to get his attention.

"No time to chat! Must go. I'm late!" Donald said carrying on his way. Ni-Ne followed him and watched him go through the tiny little door. Ni-Ne bent down and twisted the doorknob on the little door. The doorknob cried and said, "What in the world are you doing little girl? Don't you see that you're too big for me!" Ni-Ne looked confused. Did the doorknob just speak?

"Umm, Did you just say something?" Ni-Ne asked the doorknob.

"I said you're too big to go through this door," the doorknob repeated himself.

"But that was one of my friends who just went through," Ni-Ne said. "I have to catch up to him."

"Well if you were smaller, then you could," the doorknob said. Then he yawned and closed his eyes. "I'm sleepy. Can't a doorknob get any sleep around here?"

"How do I get to be small?" Ni-Ne asked.

"Check the table," the doorknob said. And only seconds later he was snoring. Ni-Ne turned to see two bottles on the table behind her. She picked one up that said. "Drink me and I'll make you big."

"That won't help," Ni-Ne said setting it down. She picked up the other bottle and read 'Drink me and I'll make you small.' Ni-Ne drank from the second bottle. Pom-Pom did the same. She stared to feel a little strange and just as she set the bottle back on the table, she rapidly shrank. Suddenly the bottle was taller than her. "Oh my," she said looking around at the now gigantic room around her. She jumped off the table and back to the ground where she was now actually smaller than the doorknob itself. "Mr. Doorknob?" Ni-Ne asked.

The doorknob continued to snore. "Mr. Doorknob!" Ni-Ne yelled a little louder. She was getting impatient with the doorknob who would not wake. So she pulled out her key blade and aimed at the door. "THUNDER!" she yelled. Bolts of lighting came raining down on the doorknob and he woke with a jolt.

"AHHH!" he yelled. "Watch it, I'm made of metal you know! That hurt!"

"Well next time wake up when I'm talking to you and I won't have to do that," Ni-Ne said. "Now open up."

"You didn't say the magic word," the doorknob said.

"Oh didn't I?" Ni-Ne said. "Perhaps you'd like me to say it again? THUN-,"

"AH! NO!" Just go through please," the doorknob said opening the door at once.

"Thank you," Ni-Ne said walking through without looking at the doorknob. She walked through into a maze of hedges lined with rose bushes. Most of the roses were white, but some seemed to have been painted red. Up ahead she saw someone with a bucket of paint who was in fact painting the roses red.

"_Oh I'm painting the roses red. Yes painting the roses red. I've got to make her happy so she won't chop off my head_," sang a familiar voice. Ni-Ne slowly approached him.

"Goofy?" Ni-Ne asked.

"Oh, good morning miss!" Goofy said. He didn't quite look himself since he was now a walking, talking playing card. "I'm painting the roses red. Wanna help?"

"Sure I guess… but why are you doing this?" Ni-Ne asked taking hold of a brush.

"For the Queen of course," Goofy said. "The Queen of Hearts wants red roses."

"What's this about she'll chop off your head?" Ni-Ne asked nervously as she painted a rose.

"Oh, the Queen has a temper and if you make her mad, she'll chop off your head!" Goofy explained. "So I'm out here doing my job so she'll be happy."

"That's terrible. What kind of person would do that?" Ni-Ne asked. But before Goofy could answer, Donald re-entered the scene.

"Ahhh! I'm late! Must hurry, mustn't make the Queen wait!" Donald shouted waddling as fast as his little rabbit, duck legs would carry him.

"Good morning Donald," Goofy chuckled. "Better hurry so the Queen won't chop off your head!"

"Goofy, would it be alright if I when with Donald?" Ni-Ne asked.

"I spose," Goofy said. "But be careful, the Queen has quite the temper."

"Don't worry," Ni-Ne said as she ran off after Donald, Pom-Pom bouncing happily behind her. She didn't get far when she ran into something invisible.

"Oops!" said another familiar voice. Suddenly Ti-Day appeared in front of Ni-Ne, only he was now a pink and purple cat. "Sorry Miss."

"Ti-Day!" Ni-Ne shouted running up to him and wrapping her arms around him. "I missed you! I was lost and you guys are here, I'm so happy to see you! Now we can get out of here," Ni-Ne cried. Ti-Day looked at her like she was insane.

"How do you know my name?" Ti-Day asked looking confused. "Have we met before?"

"Ti-Day, it's me, Ni-Ne!" she reasoned. "Your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?" Ti-Day asked. "I don't have a girlfriend! Your just some crazy little girl!" Ti-Day pulled Ni-Ne off of him, hissed at her and backed away cautiously. Ni-Ne stared at him with tears in her eyes. He didn't know her? Ti-Day looked disturbed. He disappeared on the spot leaving Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom alone.

"Pom-Pom, I don't think anyone remembers us," Ni-Ne said hopelessly. "Not even… Ti-Day…" Ni-Ne fell to the ground and covered her face. Tears flooded out of her eyes. Pom-Pom cuddled up next to her trying to make her feel better. She wrapped her arms around the puffball and held him close. Ni-Ne found it in herself to get up and move on. They were getting nowhere in this strange world by giving up. Ni-Ne fixed her dress, dried her tears and got up looking at Pom-Pom. "We have to find the others. Someone has to remember us."

Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom carried on through the maze in the direction they had last seen Donald. It wasn't long before they heard another familiar voice. "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

"Oh my," Ni-Ne said. "If that's who I think it is, we are in big trouble." The pair ran through the maze following the voice. Soon they came to an opening that lead into a courtyard. Making sure to hide well, Ni-Ne looked out around one of the hedges at those gathered in the courtyard. They saw who was yelling. It was Kita, but now she was dressed as a Queen. The Queen of Hearts. She wore a red and black gown with golden hearts printed all over it. A gold and red crown sat on her head. Her hair was down, but now wavy. She held a mallet in her hand, which must have made her the judge of the court. Next to her was Simba who looked like a King. He had a cape draped down his back and a golden crown matching Kita's on top of his mane. He looked happy despite the fact that Kita was ordering people's heads to be cut off.

"Please your majesty!" The six of hearts wined before the court. "I beg for mercy!"

"You heard what I said!" Kita yelled through gritted teeth. "OFF-WITH-YOUR-HEAD!" And without further confrontation the card was dragged away. "Let that be a lesson to the rest of you for trying to paint my roses pink!"

Donald ran across the courtyard to join the Queen's side. He handed her a scroll. "My Queen, a note from the West Tower. They said they saw a young girl with a floating cloud headed this way." Ni-Ne continued to watch the horrible scene.

"Kita. Simba. What's happened to you?" Ni-Ne said softly. "Pom-Pom, we're being hunted, we have to get out of here." They started to walk backwards slowly, but didn't get far before bumping into someone.

"Gotcha!" someone yelled. Ni-Ne spun around to find herself face to face with Hercules who was now a card guard just like Goofy.

"Hercules?" Ni-Ne asked frightened, knowing he too probably didn't recognize her. Pom-Pom floated away before Hercules could grab him. He went right for Kita and Simba. Ni-Ne was forcefully dragged by Hercules into the courtyard.

"Is this who you're talking about?" Hercules said laughing. He seemed awful proud of himself for catching Ni-Ne.

"HA! So you thought you could just waltz through my kingdom without my permission?" Kita asked Ni-Ne who was struggling to get away from Hercules. "Guards! OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

"NOO!" Ni-Ne screamed. "Kita, you can't! I'm your friend, Ni-Ne Nite! Remember? Please, let me go!"

"How dare you call me by my first name!" Kita shouted. "Not even the King is allowed to do that! You will address me as 'your majesty' for the remaining moments of your life!"

"Kita! Stop it! Tell them to let me go!" Ni-Ne begged seeing a card guard bringing a hug machete and a basket her way. "Hercules, snap out of it! KITA! WAKE UP!" Ni-Ne screamed as Hercules started to hold her down. At that moment Pom-Pom flew in and carried the machete away. He flew around Hercules head so fast, Hercules was forced to let go of Ni-Ne and try to swat him away. Ni-Ne started to run. "Come on Pom-Pom, lets get out of here!" She ran back towards the maze, but a group of card guards got in the way. She tried to stop, but they were too close. Just as they went to grab her, something appeared in front of her. It was Ti-Day the Cheshire Cat.

He hissed and clawed at the card guards, distracting them while Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom escaped. Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom ran and ran until they were safe in the forest. Or so they thought…

Kita is such a potty mouth! Lol! And I love Goofy's song. Well Pharaonic-Angel has been helping me loads with this one. It was her idea to make the characters the characters of Wonderland. I think they are all drunk, lol. This should be interesting… Kita: Hey you! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! Me: AHHHH! runs for it Reviews?


	16. Nightmare Storm

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Nightmare Storm -Chapter 16

Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom had made their way into the woods that surrounded the courtyard where they had the most unfortunate meeting with Queen Kita. Ti-Day was no longer in sight, but he had managed to hold off the guards long enough for Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom to escape. Farther and farther they ran before it seemed the light of the day had disappeared entirely. Ni-Ne stopped to catch her breath. She sat on a stump and hung her head low. Pom-Pom collapsed next to her.

"We barely made it out of there alive," Ni-Ne pointed out as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Yeah, you should be more careful around that witch," said a familiar voice. Ti-Day had appeared in a tree above Ni-Ne. He was calmly wagging his tail looking so relaxed. It was as if he had been sitting there the entire time. "What where you thinking running into the Queen like that? Her voice can be heard from miles away. You could have at least gone around."

"But she's my friend, just like you!" Ni-Ne explained. "Except she doesn't remember me either."

"I still think you're crazy," Ti-Day said jokingly. Ni-Ne shrugged feeling in her heart that Ti-Day would never understand.

"Why did you save me?" Ni-Ne asked curiously knowing that earlier she had seemed to rub him the wrong way.

"Why did I?" Ti-Day asked looking confused and scratching his head. "Perhaps I just felt like it. Or maybe it was because I've been dieing to take on those card guards."

"Oh, so it's not because you've suddenly remember who I am?" Ni-Ne asked.

"How could I forget you? I met you this morning," Ti-Day explained. "Did you think the Cheshire Cat's memory was only three minutes long?"

"Never mind," Ni-Ne said. "I just thought you cared," Ti-Day crawled up next to Ni-Ne and wrapped his tail around her.

"You need some cheering up," Ti-Day suggested. "I know! How bout a party!"

"A party?" Ni-Ne said looking at him like he was two years old. "You honestly think being lost in this creepy place and surrounded by friend who have forgotten me will be fixed with a party?"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!" Ti-Day said looking like a sad puppy. He jumped up into the tree above Ni-Ne and curled up on a branch. "It's that way."

"Your not even coming?" Ni-Ne asked.

"I can't. It's my birthday today, I'd feel kind of left out," he explained.

Ni-Ne looked at him puzzled thinking to herself that he made absolutely no sense. He pointed off into one direction of the forest where there was a winding path that lead straight into darkness. Ti-Day smiled and slowly his body started to disappear, but his eyes and mouth remained momentarily before disappearing as well.

Ni-Ne merely stared with a puzzled face at the spot where Ti-Day had just been. "He is really starting to creep my out," she said. Pom-Pom squealed in agreement. "Dare we follow his path?" Ni-Ne asked Pom-Pom. Pom-Pom looked unsure, but he inched forward anyway. Ni-Ne slowly walked along the winding path into the darkness.

"_A very merry unbirthday to you!_" someone sang up ahead.

"_And a very merry unbirthday to you!_" sang another familiar voice.

"_To me?_"

"_To you!_" the voice laughed. Both voices sounded in heavy laughter. Ni-Ne approached with caution. There in front of her was a little hedge garden with a tiny wooden gate leading into it. Inside was a long table surrounded by mismatching chairs. The table was covered with teapots, cups, butter, jam, and sugar jars. And there at the head of the table where Riku and Sora. Sora now looked like a cross between a human and a rabbit while Riku plainly looked insane.

"I don't know if I should even bother…" Ni-Ne said to herself. "Riku? Sora?" Both of them looked towards Ni-Ne at the sound of there names.

"Who are you!" Riku said excitedly making his way towards her. He was followed in hot pursuit by Sora who was just as energetically bouncing behind him.

"Ni-Ne?" she explained taking it they too had no clue who she was.

"Well Ni-Ne, I don't know who this Riku and Sora you speak of are, but I am the Mad Hatter!" he said taking a bow.

"And I am the March Hare!" Sora said bouncing circles around Ni-Ne. "Would you like to join us for some tea?" he asked sticking out a cup.

"Um, ok," Ni-Ne said. The crazy pair grabbed Ni-Ne and forced her into a huge, red velvet chair. Riku and Sora sat very close like little children waiting to hear a story. Pom-Pom was floating around the table wandering through all the steam coming from the teapots.

"My dear, you must tell us more about yourself," Riku said adding sugar to Ni-Ne's tea. It didn't take long for him to fill it so much that there was sugar pouring out of the cup, and no tea in sight.

"Well, I sorta crash landed here today and now no one remembers me," Ni-Ne explained. "Only Pom-Pom seems to know who I am."

"Is he a rare species of cotton candy?" Riku asked. "I've never seen one quite like him at all."

"Oh I know," Sora added. "He has antennas! It's fascinating!"

"He's a pomu!" Ni-Ne pointed out. "Not cotton candy…"

"Never heard of it," Sora said. "What is that, some kind of fruit? Cause he don't look like fruit."

Ni-Ne gave up the argument seeing as how Riku and Sora had lost their minds and would never understand. "What were you singing earlier?" Ni-Ne asked curiously.

"The UnBirthday Song of course," Riku said making it sound like it should have been obvious.

"Unbirthday?" Ni-Ne questioned. "What the heck is an unbirthday?"

"The holiday you can celebrate 364 days a year of course!" Sora said bouncing again. "And today is the Mad Hatter's Unbirthday!"

"Well then I guess it's my unbirthday too," Ni-Ne said, carefully thinking past the nonsense in an unbirthday.

"It is!" Riku and Sora shouted together. "In that case... _A very merry unbirthday to you_!" they started to sing. They picked up Ni-Ne's chair with her still sitting in it. Pom-Pom jumped up into her lap and stayed close since he was unsure of what Riku and Sora were up to. They continued carrying Ni-Ne and singing at the top of their lungs making their way to a huge cake at the other end of the table that had been previously hidden by the steam.

"_Now blow the candles out my dear and make your wish come true_," Riku sang as he and Sora set Ni-Ne down in front of the cake. Ni-Ne thought for a moment what her wish was and then she blew as hard as she could.

"_A very merry unbirthday to you_!" Riku and Sora sang as the cake then blasted off into the air like a rocket. Ni-Ne watched in shock not expecting the cake to fly off like that. It exploded in the air like a firework. Something was raining down from it, and to everyone's shock, it was heartless.

"Heartless!" Sora shouted bouncing nervously. He began running around in circles helplessly. Riku too seemed freaked out and managed to somehow get his entire body into his top hat to hide in.

Ni-Ne turned out to be the bravest of the bunch as she pulled out her key blade and began crushing the heartless one by one. Pom-Pom helped as best he could. Soon all the heartless where destroyed. Ni-Ne walked over to the hat Riku was hiding in. "You can come out now you big baby."

Riku popped out of the hat quickly. "I wasn't scared," he said, clearly lying. Sora was hiding under the table. Ni-Ne just rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I think I hear something," said a voice in the woods. Ni-Ne knew it was Hercules instantly. "Come on Goofy, let's check it out."

"Uh oh," Ni-Ne said. She remembered her last encounter with him ended up in nearly losing her head. She had to get away, but Hercules and Goofy has shown up before she had the chance. Ni-Ne could only think to hide behind Riku and Sora in hopes they would defend her.

"Good evening gentlemen and hares," Hercules said coming onto the garden. "By order of the Queen, I'm looking for a Ni-Ne Nite who is to return to the Queen's castle immediately."

"Why this is she!" Riku said stepping aside to reveal Ni-Ne.

Ni-Ne's jaw dropped open. "Is this the thanks I get for saving you from those heartless!"

"Ha!" Hercules said as he made his way over to Ni-Ne and grabber her arms. "You're not getting away this time!"

"Sora! Riku! Help me! She's gonna chop off my head!" Ni-Ne shouted.

"Oh dear, this has to be your worst unbithday ever," Riku said sounding truly sympathetic, yet doing nothing to help poor Ni-Ne. "But I do hope that before you lose your head, that you find this Riku and Sora you keep mentioning." And so Ni-Ne was dragged away glaring back at the Mad Hatter and the March Hare who had already continued the tea party as though nothing bad had just happened.

Ni-Ne tried desperately to think of some way to escape. "Goofy! You're not going to let the Queen chop off my head are you?"

"Sorry miss, I need my head so I do what she tells me," Goofy said.

"I think I can see why Kita hate's you so much," Ni-Ne said speaking to Hercules. "You sure have no decency for a lady." Ni-Ne groaned as Hercules's grip continued to squeeze her arm painfully.

"You look troubled," said Ti-Day's voice. Ti-Day had appeared up in the trees once more.

"Ti-Day! Help me please!" Ni-Ne pleaded stumbling as she was dragged backwards through the forest.

"Aww, what fun would that be?" Ti-Day asked.

"Fun? She's gonna kill me!" Ni-Ne shouted starting to lose her temper.

"You just have to fight back," Ti-Day said making it sound easy. All it would really take would be Hercules holding her down while Goofy chopped off her head and it'd be the end. How could she fight the Queen and all her card guards at the same time? "Good luck" Ti-Day said as he tossed a little wafer down to Ni-Ne from the treetops. He winked and slowly disappeared.

Ni-Ne quickly grabbed the wafer with her one free arm before it was out of reach. "Ti-Day, come back!" Ni-Ne cried. He was her last hope. She looked down at the wafer that read 'eat me'. Pom-Pom was squashed under Goofy's arm and he looked at Ni-Ne who was looking sad and hopeless. She had to pocket the wafer as she was suddenly brought into the courtyard where Queen Kita waited for her. Kita sat in her throne fuming. Her face was as red as her clothes and she looked like she was ready to kill. Kita jumped down from the throne and pulled out her key blade. She slowly made her way towards Ni-Ne who was thrown into the middle of the courtyard. Kita snapped her fingers and all the card guards formed an arena around the two girls, closing them in. Ni-Ne looked all around her. Kita was getting closer so she had no choice but to pull out her key blade as well.

Ni-Ne didn't want to fight Kita like this, but Kita didn't really look like she was about to admit that this had all been a big joke. Ni-Ne backed away as Kita continued to move in for the kill. However the card guards were now pointing their weapons inwards so that if Ni-Ne persisted in backing away, she would end up with a spear sticking through her. She gulped in total fear. Kita raised her key blade to attack mode and darted at Ni-Ne.

Ni-Ne stuck her key blade up and blocked Kita's attack. She then scooted away from the card guards to avoid getting stabbed by them. Once a safe distance away from them, she shoved Kita backwards and back flipped away from her.

Kita stumbled a bit, but she charged Ni-Ne again and swung her key blade at Ni-Ne's legs. Ni-Ne jumped and hit Kita over the head with the handle of her key blade. Kita fell forwards into the ground, but while she way there she grabbed Ni-Ne's ankle and pulled her to the ground. Kita got up and climbed on Ni-Ne to hold her down. "No one trespasses in my kingdom and gets away with it!" Kita said threateningly, watching Ni-Ne squirm.

"Oh yeah?" Ni-Ne said grabbing Kita's arm. She bit down on Kita's wrist.

"AHHH!" Kita screamed. She pulled away to retrieve her arm and get out of Ni-Ne's reach. With teeth marks in her arm, she grabbed her key blade and prepared to attack again. Ni-Ne jumped up from the ground and braced herself. This time the two girls attacked at the same time. Their key blades clashed. They continuously swung and blocked each other's attacks. Kita nearly fell over as Ni-Ne's fighting intensity seemed to increase. She was moving like and unstoppable train with the reflexes of a cat and Kita was finding it hard to keep up.

Ni-Ne had a passionate fire burning in her eyes. She had been through enough in Wonderland to make her mad. Kita was now the one backing away. "So you ready to give up yet?" Ni-Ne asked Kita who looked like he could have collapsed.

"Never!" Kita shouted, breathing hard. She foolishly ran towards Ni-Ne who easily deflected her attack and flung her back to the ground. Ni-Ne smirked at Kita. Kita, so determined not to give up actually threw her key blade at Ni-Ne unexpectedly. Because of the sharp points on Kita's blade, Ni-Ne's arm got cut, right across the tattoo of her left arm.

Ni-Ne groaned, but it wasn't her own voice. She closed her eyes, but when they opened, they glowed bright yellow. Kita's stared in shock and horror. Ni-Ne's face grew evil. "You'll pay for that you little which!" the strange Ni-Ne said.

Kita started to back away slowly. The card guards had scattered for their own safety. King Simba joined Queen Kita down in front. He roared seeming fearless, unaware that this heartless Ni-Ne was no force to be reckoned with. "Off with her head!" Simba roared.

"I don't think so!" the possessed Ni-Ne said. She was simply fearless. She snapped her fingers and her little pink dress changed into Ni-Ne's Halloween outfit. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wafer Ti-Day had tossed to her. She ate it and within seconds started to grow taller and taller. "If I'm not mistaken, you once promised that you would never betray me? Well it looks like you are all a bunch of lying scum! And now you will pay…"

"I rule Wonderland!" Kita said. "And according to my law, you must leave at once! Anyone over a mile high must have their head removed!"

"You think I'm scared of you little windbag?" heartless Ni-Ne taunted. "Let me show you what fear is… the true powers of the heartless. NIGHTMARE STORM!" Dark clouds started to form, surrounded the now abnormally tall Ni-Ne. "Let your fears flash before your eyes!" Ghostly figures began raining out of the clouds and flying around the courtyard. Everyone ran screaming in fear. Even Pom-Pom was now scared as he resorted to hiding under the throne and the watching the frightening sight.

Kita didn't seem to get it. She persisted in getting her authority back. "Who are you!"

"No matter to you Kita, just call me your worst nightmare!" The giant heartless Ni-Ne grabbed Kita in her hands and Kita began to scream in a shrill, painful scream. She watched her nightmares flash before her eyes and it was too much for her mind and heart to bear.

Almost super naturally Kita was transported to a dark room. It was cold and musty. The floor was titled and filthy. The walls were covered in blood red wallpaper that was tearing off. The only light seemed to come from a little fire burning in one of the corners. Kita was curled up on floor, shivering and crying. She covered her face as though trying to keep herself from seeing anything that might be in the room with her. "Help…" Kita cried quietly. She was scared out of her mind unable to tear her hands away from her face.

"Aww, crying for your mommy?" the heartless Ni-Ne's voice asked. Kita peaked out between her fingers. It was no longer Ni-Ne. There stood a woman in a long, torn black dress that had a rather revealing V-shaped cut down the breast. Her hair was long and black, reaching all the way to the floor. She was boney with pale skin, and of course glowing yellow eyes. She slowly made her way towards Kita leaving a trail of black goop on the floor behind her.

Kita tired to roll away, but she felt too weak and truthfully had nowhere to go. "W-who are you?" she asked, the fear shaking in her voice.

"Again? I cannot tell you who I am. However, I was the one who saved your friend Ti-Day from that bastard Clayton." Kita remembered Ti-Day's story of the battle in the jungle.

"But Ti-Day said that Ni-Ne saved him…" Kita said. "You're not Ni-Ne."

The woman chuckled and leaned down into Kita's face. "I am she. Her heartless self… however, my name shall remain unknown to you sweetie. Now go back to the place from which you came." Kita's was frozen in horror as her body slowly began to disappear and the sight of the woman faded away. "I'll be back…" the woman whispered.

Ni-Ne snapped back to consciousness. "Huh?" She said looking around. Everything was so small. She had mysteriously grown so much taller everyone else who she noticed where now smaller than her shoes. Everyone was running around on the ground looking like a bunch of wondering fools. Though they looked normal now, they were screaming in horror. "What's wrong? What happened?" Ni-Ne asked them.

"It's talking to us!" Donald shouted. "We have to kill it!"

"What? It's me, Ni-Ne!" Ni-Ne shouted.

Sora and Riku had made their way to the scene at some point. Sora attached his jungle keychain to his Key Blade and it changed into a stronger one. "Lets go Riku, Donald, Goofy! We can take this giant heartless!"

"Wait a minute…" Ni-Ne thought to herself. "He just used their real names. They're normal again. They should know who I am. SORA STOP! It's me, Ni-Ne!" Sora struck Ni-Ne's ankle, which with the size difference barely felt like a scratch, but the thought that her friends were attacking her was too much to stand. Ni-Ne flattened her skirt to check and see if Sora had done any damage. Her entire body was black as night. "What's going on?" she gasped. "What's happening to me!"

Riku was climbing her skirt and started to stab Ni-Ne in the arm. "Owe!" she shouted. Goofy was hitting her with his shield and Donald began casting spells that seemed the most painful of all. "Hey, stop! That hurts!" Ni-Ne cried. Hercules and Simba were up and ready to join the fight as well. Hercules uprooted a tree and started whacking Ni-Ne's knee with it. "Hey! Cut it out!" Simba scratched Ni-Ne's ankles. "Ouch! Stop it you guys! IT'S ME!"

Ti-Day and Kita had been knocked out. Ti-Day was the first to wake. He could hear the commotion behind him and turned to see the heartless Ni-Ne being beaten. His jaw dropped in horror. "Kita wake up! Ni-Ne's in trouble! We have to help her!" Ti-Day shook Kita continuously until she opened her eyes at last. "Come on Kita, Ni-Ne's in trouble."

Kita shook her head to wake herself up and looked over to see the others attacking Ni-Ne. "STOP IT!" She screamed suddenly, nearly causing Ti-Day to go deaf. "IT'S NI-NE. STOP!" She dashed over with Ti-Day to attempt to stop the others. Kita ran over and pulled Simba away by grabbing his mane.

Ti-Day ran in front of Hercules and the tree trying to get his attention. "Stop Hercules! The heartless is Ni-Ne, don't hurt her!"

"Are you sure?" Hercules asked.

"Yes, please stop!" Ti-Day pleaded. He persisted on his way by chasing down Sora next. "Sora, stop! It's not a heartless. That's Ni-Ne! Please stop!" Sora looked at Ti-Day like he was absolutely crazy. "Please believe me."

"Goofy! Donald! Stop attacking!" Sora shouted. "He says this is Ni-Ne." Donald and Goofy were obedient despite the fact they had disbelief as well. Riku however, was too far away to shout to. Ti-Day would have to climb up after him to get him to stop.

Ti-Day started climbing a nearby tree and then grabbed onto the hem of Ni-Ne's skirt. "Riku! Riku!" Ti-Day shouted. He continued climbing up until he was right under Riku. He grabbed his foot and caused him to slip. "Riku! Stop! That's Ni-Ne you're attacking!" Riku looked down to see that everyone on the ground was staring at him. He looked up at the yellow eyes that were looking down at him. He was entirely unconvinced that the heartless was Ni-Ne, but he felt stupid to continue attacking if everyone else had given up. And so Riku jumped off of Ni-Ne into the treetops. Ti-Day however remained.

"Ti-Day, I'm scared," the heartless Ni-Ne said covering her face. Her voice was hard to understand, but Ti-Day could interpret. She began raining black tears, covering her face.

"Calm down Ni-Ne, I'm not going anywhere," Ti-Day said, staying close. "Just remember who you really are." Ni-Ne's glowing eyes looked sad. Slowly the tattoo on her left arm reappeared glowing bright purple. She began to shrink back to her normal size. Ti-Day caught her and pulled her up into a tree with him. He wrapped his arms around her to show her that she was safe now. Ni-Ne embraced him tightly and refused to let go. Ti-Day kissed her on the forehead. "It's ok now," Ti-Day said. Ni-Ne was cut up in several places and her clothes were a bit torn. The couple made their way down from the trees and joined everyone on the ground. Everyone looked sorry for attacking her.

"You're forgiven," she said before anyone could say anything. "I wasn't myself. I may have hurt some of you. I was scared. I don't remember becoming so big. I couldn't even remember who I was."

"None of use have been ourselves," Donald said. "King Mickey warned us about this world and it's absolutely insane. We've been under a mind spell that's caused by the darkness in this world."

"Thank goodness," Ni-Ne said. "I thought you had all seriously lost your minds in that crash." Pom-Pom nodded in agreement.

"Well, we're back to normal now, so I say that's a good thing and we should get out of this strange place as soon as possible," Sora said. "Now where's that keyhole?"

Ni-Ne could feel something behind her. It wasn't a physical feeling at all, but a sense of magic. She turned to see a keyhole glowing inside of the throne Kita had been sitting in earlier. She slowly walked towards it and made it half way there before the others seemed to notice she had left. She instinctively stuck her key blade up towards the keyhole. There was a gust of wind as a beam of light bust from the end of Ni-Ne's key blade and shot straight into the keyhole. There was a little locking noise and the beam was broken. A little keychain shot out at Ni-Ne. It was a little black rose. Ni-Ne picked it up and held it in her hand. The others gathered around her to look at it.

"Hey, I thought only my Key Blade could do that," Sora said, looking confused.

"I didn't know I could," Ni-Ne said dreamily. She was just as confused as he was, but it meant something as she, like Kita and Sora had gained a keychain.

"Well, all in favor of ditching Wonderland say I," Simba said.

"I!" everyone shouted together. And so the Warriors of Light headed off to search for their Gummi Ships.


	17. Fish Tale

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Fish Tale -Chapter 17

It didn't take long for the warriors to finally locate their crashed ships in the forest of Wonderland. Donald was able to quickly repair them with magic so they could get as far away from Wonderland as possible. Ni-Ne more than anyone else wanted to escape for fear her friends would lose their minds all over again. But lucky for her, in no time at all the team was ready to go.

"Was I really that mean?" Kita kept asking Ni-Ne as she navigated the Gummi Ship through space.

"Yeah," Ni-Ne said. "It was like you fighting with Riku only ten times the intensity.

"Oh gee thanks," Riku said. "Now you've got her believing she is capable of inflicting more damage to me than she already does."

"Your welcome," Ni-Ne laughed. Kita looked back to Ni-Ne, Ti-Day and Riku talking. She kept glancing at the cut that was slit across Ni-Ne's tattoo on her arm. Even though she wasn't herself, she could remember seeing her key blade strike Ni-Ne so clearly. It gave her a looming fear of herself and how much danger could be hiding down inside her own heart that would cause her to do such a thing. Every time she looked at it, it gave her chills shooting down her spine.

"Kita, prepare to land, there's a world up ahead," Donald's voice called through the intercom. Kita looked out the window around Donald's ship to see a world that looked like it was made entirely out of water.

"Um, Donald," Kita asked sounding puzzled. "Where are we gonna land exactly? It's made of water!"

"Don't worry about it, just follow me!" Donald said turning his ship down towards the world. Kita followed still feeling anxious about the idea. They were coming in very close now and Kita was beginning to wonder if Donald had any idea what he was doing. But just as they were about to plunge into the water, the Gummi Ship started to glow brightly and seemed to vanish.

When Kita opened her eyes, she was under water. At first she grabbed her throat thinking she was drowning, but something felt so right just to breath. "Huh?" she said. She looked down to see endless ocean below and the fluke of a whale… "A WHALE!" Kita screamed realizing what she had become. "I'm a- a KILLER WHALE!"

"Cool it Kita," Ti-Day said grabbing her shoulders trying to calm her down. "We're all sea critters now."

Kita turned around to see that Ti-Day was now half man, half great white shark. She gasped in surprise. "How?"

"Donald of course," Ti-Day said. "Don't you remember him saying he'd take care of it? Even I heard him say that and I was talking to Ni-Ne at the time."

Kita turned to Donald who was now half duck, half octopus and swam towards him as fast as she could. Then she firmly placed her hands around his neck and started to shake him back and forth. "I liked my body the way it was! What have you done! And a whale of all things! Are you saying I'm fat!"

"AHH!" Donald choked. "Let go! Let go!"

"I don't think you look bad," Riku said swimming over to Kita. "You look good."

Kita turned her head and saw Riku who was now half man, jellyfish. He was shirtless now being underwater and Kita couldn't help but stare. He was pretty good looking under all that stupidity. Her cheeks started to turn red, so she changed her expression to an angry face to hide the fact that she was blushing at all. "And what are you suppose to be?"

"You don't even know?" Riku said sounding surprised. "I'm a Portuguese Man-of-War, only the coolest jellyfish of all time! We used to have them around our island back home, right Sora?"

Sora was swimming around and around and around without stopping. "Woohoo!" he shouted. "Look, I'm a dolphin!" Sora swam over to Kita and put his arm around her. "Don't we kinda go together?" he asked Riku who was still there in front of them. Kita's expression was clearly a 'no', but Riku laughed and agreed.

Ni-Ne and Ti-Day were circling each other flirtatiously. Ni-Ne was now a sea krait, a type of water snake. She kept wrapping herself around Ti-Day who was slowly turning into a lovesick baboon, or shark rather.

"Get a room!" Hercules shouted at them. He seemed to be having trouble swimming with the eel tail that had replaced his legs. "Why couldn't I have been a crab or something? Then at least I could walk on the bottom."

"Did someone say crab?" a voice said from the coral that was embedded in the sea floor below. A tiny red crab swam up into the group. "Hmm, who are you? I've never seen any of you before."

"That's because we come from another world," Goofy said swimming over to meet the crab. Goofy was much smaller than he normally was now that he was a sea turtle. "We're here to stop the heartless from coming to this world."

"You've come to stop the heartless!" another voice said. This time a mermaid appeared from the coral. She swam up into the group sounding very excited. "I'm so glad you're here! The heartless have been all over the place, and I can't seem to make them go away."

"Well that's why we came," Sora said smiling. He was more than excited to be a dolphin. "What's your name?"

"Oh I'm Ariel, and this is Sebastian," she said pointing out the red crab. "And Flounder's around here somewhere," Ariel said looking around through the coral.

"Ahh! Ariel, what is that thing!" Flounder said popping out from the coral at last. He was followed by a little pink cloud that was squeaking at him."

"That's Pom-Pom," Ti-Day laughed. "I was wondering where he got to. And don't worry, he's harmless."

"What are your names?" Ariel asked.

Ti-Day took a big breath ready to point everyone out. "Ok, I'm Ti-Day, this is Ni-Ne Nite, Kita, Riku, Sora, Hercules, Donald and Goofy." As he finished, he took a big breath.

"Nice to meat you all," Ariel said smiling. "Anyway, my father is King Triton and-," she began.

"Wah, back up," Kita said. "_King_ Triton? That means… you're _Princess_ Ariel!"

"Well yeah, but what's wrong with-," Ariel was cut off again.

"You're in danger!" Kita said. "My father, Ansem and his evil accomplices are hunting you down!"

"What?" Ariel asked starting to sound worried.

"Oh my gosh, that's right!" Hercules jumped in. "I remember. That notebook, The Princess's of Heart."

"Hurry, you've got to get back to your palace as fast as you can!" Donald said. "We'll help you, just hurry!" Ariel looked as though she didn't know what was going on, but she listened anyway. With everyone there to protect her, the heartless barely stood a chance. Before they could get far, a group of heartless did in fact take on the group.

"I got um," Riku said stopping. He tried swinging his sword around but he could only reach so far. The water prevented him from moving anywhere fast without proper fins. So he tired a new strategy. She stretched out his tentacles and grabbed all of the heartless at the same time. Then he squeezed his fists and concentrated hard on shocking them. ZAP! And all the heartless were done for in one shot.

"Nice one Riku," Sora shouted. "Come on!" They hurried on with Ariel telling them where to go. A swarm of heartless appeared out of nowhere up ahead. Everyone prepared to halt but Donald cast a spell and blew them out of the way in the blink of an eye.

"It's right here!" Ariel said, she jumped ahead and pulled open a shell that was supposedly the front door. Once everyone made it inside she swam in and let the shell fall closed behind her. Everyone sank to the floor breathing heavily.

"I would have thought being sea creatures would have made swimming easier, but that was tough work," Ni-Ne pointed out.

"I'm guessing you don't normally have fins where you come from," Ariel said laughing at all of them.

"Nope," Hercules said looking as though he was about to die. He had been having enough trouble just swimming slowly in one place let alone racing heartless.

"Tell me, what's this about me being in danger?" Ariel asked seriously.

"Well, it really is a long story," Kita said still huffing and puffing. "The heartless were created by my father Ansem, and now they are infecting all the worlds. I volunteered to help King Mickey stop the problem and I found a notebook that revealed some pretty secret plans of his. And your name was in it."

"How does he even know me? No one's ever been to this world besides you guys and the heartless." Ariel explained.

"Well, there's rumors about 'the villains' getting together too," Kita said.

"Yeah, a Maleficent and Clayton, who's done for…" Ni-Ne mentioned.

Kita continued. "I don't know as much about them, but I think they're the ones collecting the princesses. Is there anyone here you would consider bad?"

"Actually, there's a sea which named Ursula." Ariel thought.

"Stay away from her then," Ti-Day said. "She sounds pretty suspicious to me."

"Could we meet your father?" Sora said. "We should really tell him about this."

"Of course. Follow me," Ariel said swimming deeper into the palace. Ariel led the group to a large room of coral columns that circled around a throne. There in the throne was King Triton himself. "Hi Daddy!"

"Ariel, who are these… not so mer-people?" he questioned looking at the strange bunch.

"Daddy, they came to take care of the heartless problem," Ariel explained. "Don't worry, they're not bad."

"I see," King Triton said eyeing everyone suspiciously. "I've never seen you before. Where did you come from?"

"You're majesty, we've come from other worlds," Sora spoke up. "We were appointed by King Mickey to seal the worlds and prevent heartless from getting into them."

"Other worlds?" King Triton asked still looking suspicious. "Sounds like risky meddling to me."

"It's hardly meddling what we're doing," Kita said. "There's heartless everywhere and someone has to stop them."

"But I can destroy them," King Triton said holding up the gold triton in this hand. "I am King of Atlantica after all. I know how to protect my people."

"Ah, but can you stop them from coming back?" Ti-Day asked. King Triton held his chin in his hand as he thought about it. "The heartless are entering this world through a door that needs to be locked."

"I see," King Triton said coming to a realization that the heartless where a bigger problem than he had led himself to believe.

"There's too much to really explain right now, but there's one other thing you should know," Donald said. "Ariel is in danger."

"What! How do you know?" King Triton said now looking worried and shocked.

"We're not a hundred percent sure of what's going on, but the man behind all of this left some notes behind about the Princess's of Heart," Kita explained. "And Ariel was one of them."

"How can this be?" King Triton said thinking out loud.

"Can you think of no one?" Sora said.

"Ursula!" King Triton concluded aloud. "That sea witch is going to be sorry once I'm through with her." King Triton got up from the throne and started making his way towards the exit of the throne room.

"Daddy, I'll come too," Ariel said following him.

"No Ariel. It's too dangerous," he said putting his fin down. King Triton pointed to Kita and Ni-Ne. "You two girls stay here with her and the rest of you guys come with me."

Kita had a look of down right disgusted on her face as she watched King Triton and all the guys swim away. "What does he think I am? A wuss! I'm braver and stronger then half of them and he picks me to leave behind!"

"Aw, he's just like that I guess," Ariel explained. "He's so protective of my sisters and I. I guess he just did it without thinking."

Ni-Ne turned her head towards Ariel. "Forgive her," she whispered. "Kita likes to be in the center of action at all times. She's a tough cookie." Ni-Ne smiled. Pom-Pom resorted to warming the throne for King Triton while he was gone.

"Since we're here, can you two tell me about the other worlds out there," Ariel asked sounding a little shy for once. She had a secret passion to explore someplace outside her world. For her to discover that other worlds did exist made her happy and more curious than ever before.

"Oh, where to begin," Kita said rolling her eyes. "We just came from this Wonderland place and it was complete insanity! We all lost our minds and started attacking each other! It was horrible! And then there was that jungle world where Tarzan the ape-man lived… The bugs were awful! Not to mention I was stuck with Riku the entire time. Oh man listening to him was driving me crazy. And-,"

Ni-Ne was eyeing Kita. "Kita and Ti-Day came to my world, Halloween Town, to bring me along for this adventure we've been having. I'm sorta an orphan so I've lived in Halloween Town my whole life with Jack, the Pumpkin King."

"That sounds like fun!" Ariel said. "I love Halloween. And to think you get to live it everyday!"

"Yep, every year we have a big Halloween parade. Me and dad work on it all year together just to make it better than the last." Ni-Ne sighed and hung her head. "I guess this year he's going to be doing most of it on his own. I really miss him."

"Aww, I'm sorry about that," Ariel said. "I'd probably miss my daddy too even though most of the time I'm just getting in trouble with him." Ariel laughed. "What about you Kita?"

Kita hung her head in silence. For a moment or two she said nothing and then she explained. "I don't really have a home right now."

"How's that? Everyone's got a home," Ariel said. "I mean I get that maybe people are going through rough times right now with all this darkness stuff, but your home is where your heart is."

"Yeah," Kita said quietly. "That's just the thing. I don't have that. My life sorta got shredded apart somehow and everything's been a mess. My father… he's…"

A swarm of heartless suddenly appeared in the throne room without warning. "AHH!" Ariel screamed in shock. Ni-Ne and Kita snapped out of their gloomy moods in a split second and proceeded to prepare their key blades for battle. Kita was just now realizing how hard it was to move quickly when you had only just learned how to swim with a tail. She found herself spinning around and getting dizzy purposelessly. And without the ability to use magic, she was finding it hard to protect Ariel. Ni-Ne on the other hand was casting spells left and right while Ariel had resorted to slapping heartless with her tail.

"THUNDER!" Ni-Ne shouted. All the heartless were hit at once and disappeared, but only for new ones to arrive.

"Err, this is why we should have gone!" Kita complained still struggling. "You heartless are starting to make me mad!"

"Kita, try that keychain Jane gave you," Ni-Ne said. "It's supposed to make your key blade stronger."

Kita thought she'd give it a try because anything was better than swinging the blade through empty water. She attached the silver passionflower to her blade and it began to glow. Though still silver, it transformed into a key blade that had a wild passionflower for an end and long vine twisting patterns that made the length. But by far the best thing was that the key blade was now two feet longer. "HA!" Kita said getting excited. This time she swung it and was able to reach the heartless who had been floating in front of her poking fun.

Eventually all the heartless were defeated. "Bravo," a cold voice said from behind them.

Ariel gasped. "Ursula! How?"

A huge, fat octopus woman was now sharing the throne room with Kita, Ni-Ne and Ariel. "Ha ha, my dear sweet child, I've been told it is time to collect," Ursula laughed. "You're coming with me!"

"Ah, NO!" Ariel said as Ursula grabbed her arm.

Kita swam up to Ursula and swung her key blade down on her arm as hard as she could. "Back off!" Ni-Ne followed Kita's lead and took to attacking Ursula's other arm.

"Err, you little pests! You're in my way!" Ursula yelled. She held out her hand and suddenly Ni-Ne and Kita found little fireballs flying into their faces. They were knocked backwards hard. But before they could get up, Ursula struck again and again. Enough fireballs to the head and soon neither of the girls could keep swimming. They were both knocked unconscious as well as Pom-Pom who while trying his best to avoid them had been hit by some stray fireballs.

"Ni-Ne! Kita!" Ariel yelled as she was dragged away helplessly. Ni-Ne, Kita and Pom-Pom were left to lay limply on the ground as Ariel was kidnapped.


	18. Shark Attack

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Shark Attack -Chapter 18

"I can't believe Ursula is missing," Sora said. "Where would she be if she's not here in her own world?"

"She could be working with the villains," Donald mentioned. "They could be anywhere. They are looking for the princesses remember? They must be taking them somewhere."

"Come on, let's pick up the pace!" King Triton shouted from up ahead. Ti-Day, Sora, Riku, Hercules, Donald and Goofy swam as fast as their fins would carry them to keep up. Soon enough the palace was in sight and the group of guys made their way back to the throne room unaware of what had happened.

"Kita! Ni-Ne!" Ti-Day shouted as he spotted the two unconscious girls on the sea floor. He was now swimming faster than he ever had before. Riku and Sora finally saw them too and hurried in as well. Ti-Day immediately swam to Ni-Ne's side. "Ni-Ne, wake up!" He gently took her limp body into his arms and lifted her up to see if she would snap out of it.

Sora and Riku landed themselves next to Kita. She was laying on her back with her key blade next to her, just out of reach of her hand. "They must have been attacked," Sora concluded. "Where's Ariel?"

"Ariel!" King Triton shouted. He was swimming nervously around the throne room looking in every nook and cranny for Ariel. "I have to search the palace. She may be hiding somewhere. At least I hope that's the case." Donald, Goofy and Hercules offered to help while the rest of the group stayed with the girls.

Ti-Day noticed a little pink ball lying under the throne. "Oh no Pom-Pom, not you too." He continued to hold Ni-Ne close to him.

"We won't know what happened until they wake up," Riku said. "That is if they even remember." Riku was looking at Ti-Day who was holding Ni-Ne so lovingly in his arms. Then he looked down to Kita who was still flat on the floor. He cautiously scooted towards her torso as though he was trying to be sly without Sora noticing. He reached down under her shoulder to pick her up and one of his tentacles touched her stomach.

"Ouch!" Kita shouted as she suddenly sat up and scared everyone to death. She narrowly missed head bunting Riku on her way up. All the boys were staring at Kita now. "Something just stung me."

"I'm sorry," Riku said. "It was an accident. But you are awake now."

Before Kita had the chance to start complaining Ti-Day swam over to her with Ni-Ne still in his arms. "Kita! What happened?"

"Err, heartless just came out of no where," Kita said trying hard to remember. "And then Ursula showed up."

"Ursula?" Sora shouted. "That's why we couldn't find her. She was here! What about Ariel?"

Kita dropped her head in shame. "She got her."

King Triton made a sudden re-entry with the others. "I can't find her anywhere."

"King Triton, she was kidnapped by Ursula," Ti-Day said. "They were attacked and Ariel was taken."

"No..." King Triton said. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have left her here with only the two girls. Kita was looking a little hurt by the comment. She was already mad enough she had been left behind because she was a girl, and now this.

"It's not their fault!" Riku spoke up suddenly. "They tried really hard to protect Ariel. If you'd ever seen these girls fight you'd know they're not weak. Don't blame them for their best efforts!" Kita just stared open mouthed at Riku unable to believe he was capable of saying such a nice thing.

"Well it doesn't matter now," King Triton said. "What matters is getting Ariel back before that sea witch hurts my daughter."

"Umm, hello," Ti-Day said. "Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom are still unconscious here..."

"Oh right," King Triton said. He held up his triton and pointed it at Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom. There was a bright gold glow and when the light had dimmed, Ni-Ne opened her eyes.

"You're ok!" Ti-Day said squeezing Ni-Ne tightly. This time she was able to embrace him in return.

"I'm so glad you're here," Ni-Ne said. "I thought we were goners."

"Yeah, Kita told us," Ti-Day said smiling. "I'll never leave your side again." The two were nuzzling happily just to be safely together again. Sora was beginning to feel a little lonely inside.

"I really miss Kairi," he said. "Why haven't we found her yet?"

"Don't worry Sora," Kita said. "I know she's out there. She's probably thinking about you right now."

Sora smiled. "I can't wait to tell her that I got to be a dolphin."

"I promise, if it's the last thing I do, I'm going to help you find Kairi," Kita said. She held out her pinky. Sora joined his pinky to hers and they shook in agreement. "Besides, I'd love to meet her. Sounds like you have a thing for her."

"Well, maybe," Sora said scratching his head looking nervous.

"You sure do!" Riku said. He turned to Kita to tell the tale. "He was always blushing around her and stuff. I told him to share a Papua fruit with her too. They were quite the flirtatious ones." **BANG** Sora's Key Blade made contact with Riku's head. "What the heck? Not you too," Riku said rubbing his head.

Sora laughed. "Kita's really rubbing off on me, what can I say?" Kita laughed so hard she doubled up and rolled around on the sea floor turning pink. Riku, even though he was the one being laughed at, had a little smile on his face. He'd never seen Kita look so gosh darn happy. He just thought to himself that she was so cute when she smiled.

"I know you're all glad to be ok and all, but please, Ariel is still out there," King Triton said interrupting everyone. Kita stopped laughing and everyone's head turned to face him. "I don't know where she could be, and I don't have this ability to travel to other worlds, but there's a chance that if what you said is true about the villains, Ariel may be far from here by now."

"He's right," Ti-Day said. "We have to get going. I know if it were Ni-Ne out there I wouldn't be sitting here like this, I'd be half way around the universe by now." Ni-Ne blushed to here such lovely things about herself. Ti-Day truly was one of kind and with each passing day she loved him more for who he was and how much his love for her shined. As she stared at him admiring he's headstrong personality, she noticed something behind him up in the corner of the throne room.

"Heartless!" Ni-Ne shouted pointing to the intruders.

"I'll take care of them, please hurry!" King Triton said blocking the heartless from reaching everyone. They all quickly got a move on and left the palace.

"Wait a minute," Hercules said. "Maybe you'd better focus on sealing this world so the heartless will stop coming. We don't want anything to happen to King Triton too while we're gone."

"Ah, he's got a point," Sora said. "But where could the keyhole be?"

"Come on, we have to hurry up and find it!" Donald shouted.

"Uhhh, shark?" Ti-Day said slowing down and looking up.

"Yeah yeah Ti-Day, we know you're a shark," Kita said staying focused.

"No, SHARK!" Ti-Day said stopping and pointing up at the biggest shark he had ever seen. The shark stopped swimming around and made a noise dive at the group who had stopped swimming.

"RUN, I mean, SWIM!" Goofy shouted. Everyone split up into different directions and swam outwards to escape the shark's jaws. The shark crashed head first into the sea floor, but it wasn't enough to stop him as he then shook the sand out of his face and started chasing Hercules.

"Ahh! Why me?" Hercules said. "Stupid eel fin." Hercules was struggling to swim and he wasn't swimming fast enough to get away from the shark. Sora turned and saw that Hercules was in trouble. "Super Dolphin Sora will save you!" He swam full speed at the shark and held his Key Blade out ready to stab it. He hit it directly as his Key Blade went right into the shark's skin. He went to pull away and strike again, but the blade had sunk so far into the shark that he was having difficulty pulling it out. When he finally did, blood came pouring out and polluting the water. Sora backed away. "Hmm, not a heartless. What a mess."

The shark turned its head towards Sora and started pursuing him instead of Hercules. "Sora, watch out!" Riku shouted now going his way. Sora swam away from the shark, but quite literally, it was on his tail. Kita saw what was going on and she too started swimming Sora's way joined by Ni-Ne and Ti-Day.

"FREEZE!" Ni-Ne shouted. A block of ice formed around the shark, but in mere seconds it was busted by the sharks brute strength. "STOP!" she shouted next holding the shark in time.

"Good one babe!" Ti-Day shouted. "Now it's my turn! FIRE!" Ti-Day pointed his staff towards the shark but only a little puff of smoke and some bubbles came out of his staff.

"We're under water!" Donald shouted. "You can't use fire under water!"

"Oops," Ti-Day said. "In that case… LIGHTNING!" A huge bolt of lightening came down directly above the shark. It seemed to have burned right through the shark's skin leaving a big brown spot on it's back. But the time spell had apparently been broken as the shark's head started to move. "All together now!" Ti-Day commanded.

Ti-Day, Ni-Ne, Sora and Donald shouted together. "THUNDER!" And instantly the shark was fried to a crisp.

"Good one guys," Sora said. "I thought I was a goner there."

"Are you kidding? You know we've always got your back," Ti-Day said with a goofy smile on his face.

"Sora, look," Ni-Ne said pointing behind him. On a tall cone shaped rock, a keyhole began to appear. Sora held up his Key Blade and a beam of light connected the Key Blade and the keyhole. From it came the sound of a door locking.

"That takes care of that," Hercules said. "Now we should get going."

"Donald, where did you put our Gummi Ships?" Kita asked.

"Up on the surface," Donald said. "We better head up quickly." The group swam up together ready to head out and find Ariel.

"I'm gonna miss being a dolphin," Sora said sadly.

"Think of it this way," Kita said. "Maybe someday your magic will be as strong as Donald's and you can change into a dolphin whenever you want. Heck, make Kairi and Riku into dolphins too and you guys can all go swimming together." Sora smiled. It did sound like a good idea to him.

Kita swam over to her ship and discovered she was unable to get in with the huge whale fin dragging behind her. "Hold on, Donald said coming over. Hey targeted everyone who was riding in Kita's ship at the same time. Kita reached for the ship again. Her hands were wet and caused her to slip.

"I gotcha," Riku said catching her before she plummeted back under water again. Kita started to blush again uncontrollably with Riku holding her. She stared to squirm trying frantically to get away. The second attempt to get back in the ship was a success. Riku followed and then Ti-Day helped Ni-Ne and Pom-Pom in before jumping in himself.

Before they could even sit down something huge bumped the bottom of the Gummi ship. "What was that?" Kita asked. But before anyone could answer, the ship was hit again. This time everyone was shoved into one corner of the ship as they fell to the ground and slid in the direction the ship had tilted. Ti-Day managed to land at the bottom of the pile.

"Owe," he moaned as everyone was thrown against him. Kita, despite the fact she was having trouble moving, still attempted to crawl towards the controls in hopes to get the ship in the air. She looked out the front window and to her horror saw a shark fin circling them.

"That thing didn't die!" Kita yelled in shock.

"Or there's two of them," Riku said catching up to the front controls. Again the ship was hit by the shark. Kita fell right into Riku and they toppled to the floor.

"I can't take much more of this," Ni-Ne said sounding irritated. "STOP!" she shouted causing the shark to freeze in time. "Ok, now we can leave."

"_Go_," said the mysterious voice from Ni-Ne's mouth. Instantly the shark began moving again and continued to thrash the Gummi Ship.

"No way," Ti-Day said looking at Ni-Ne whose eyes were burning yellow again. "Snap out of it Ni-Ne! STOP!" Ti-Day shouted loudly. The shark stopped again. "Come on Kita, before it happens again!" Kita untangled herself from Riku and ran for the controls. She turned the power on and flipped all the controls in record speed. She sat down in the driver's seat and kicked into gear. The ship was suddenly shooting across the water at the speed of sound. Only a few second's passed before they finally got some air and rose off the surface of the ocean water.

"Ni-Ne! You can beat her!" Ti-Day shouted. He was shaking Ni-Ne's shoulders in hope she would hear him. "Ni-Ne!"

"_Shut up you fool_," the strange voice said. Kita turned her head and looked at Ni-Ne in fear. She had met the mysterious woman in Wonderland and she was terrified that she was coming back. In the middle of space, trapped inside of the Gummi Ship, there would be nowhere to run.

Ti-Day grabbed Ni-Ne's shoulders firmly and looked deep into her bright yellow eyes. "Listen woman, I may not know who you are or what you want, but you are getting on my nerves! Leave my girl friend alone!"

"_Come now. I saved your life once Ti-Day. Don't you remember_?" the woman said. "_Do you really think you can get rid of me_?" She let out a chilling laugh that sent shivers down everyone's spine. Pom-Pom was starting to look angry. He puffed up and leapt onto Ni-Ne's face. He wrapped his tail around her neck for stability and screwed his eyes into an angry expression and hissed loudly at her. "_Uh_!" the woman said trying to shake him off.

"Get her Pom-Pom!" Ti-Day cheered watching the woman struggle. She seemed to have a strange fear of him.

"_Err, fine, I'm going. But don't thing that you've seen the last of me_," the woman said before releasing Ni-Ne's mind. Her eyes flickered back to their normal color and Ni-Ne fell forward.

"Ni-Ne," Ti-Day said catching her just before she slammed into the floor and broker her nose. "Ni-Ne, are you ok?"

"Yeah," Ni-Ne said sounding very weak. "She just came so suddenly I couldn't hold her back."

"Don't worry," Ti-Day said "It's not your fault. Actually Pom-Pom here was the one who scared her away." Pom-Pom had returned to his normal bubbly self as he then nuzzled Ni-Ne.

"Thanks Pom-Pom," Ni-Ne said giving him a big squeeze. Ni-Ne, Ti-Day and Pom-Pom looked over to see Kita and Riku. They were both still glued to the dashboard as white as ghosts. "You guys alright?" Ni-Ne asked looking confused.

"Yeah, I'm good," Kita said shaking as she tried to move. She sat down looking forwards out the window to avoid eye contact with everyone. Se was still frightened that the thing inside of Ni-Ne was coming to get her. Riku also managed to regain composure. He had chosen to sit at the controls with Kita for this flight. When Kita realized this she rolled her eyes unknowingly, but she kept her head turned pretending that she didn't know he was there.

"You look really scared," Riku said speaking to Kita. "And you don't look scared very often."

"Yeah well, if you got trapped all alone with no escape in a room with that woman, I'm sure you'd feel the same way," Kita explained.

"You never told me about that," Riku said looking left out of the loop.

"Well, there's a lot of things I don't tell you," Kita said.

"So you do have a secret crush on me!" Riku said jokingly. Kita didn't see it as much of a joke.

"WHAT!" Kita shouted. She picked up her key blade and bashed Riku upside the head with it.

"Is that all you got? I think you're starting to go soft on me," Riku laughed. "It didn't even hurt that time."

"Oh? How's THIS!" Kita shouted now standing up to put full force into her swing. Ti-Day and Ni-Ne just laughed at them.


	19. Mirage

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Mirage-Chapter 19

"Today we're going to check on the pumpkins Ni-Ne. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Jack asked holding little Ni-Ne's hand. She was only a few feet tall and her eyes were large and curious. Jack Skellington smiled down at the innocent child leading her away to the pumpkin patch. It was summer now and the pumpkins had only just been planted. Jack was always ready to work on provisions for Halloween. But he would never do any of it without Ni-Ne.

"Papa. Can I water them?" Ni-Ne asked sweetly.

"Yep, that's what Papa's little helper does best," Jack replied. Ni-Ne pulled on Jack's boney hand so that he would know to pick her up. He did so and gave her a big hug.

"I love you Papa," Ni-Ne said.

"Ni-Ne?" Ti-Day said poking her in the shoulder. "Are you ok? You just said I love you Papa."

Ni-Ne sat up slowly waking from her sleep. She must have fallen asleep shortly after the heartless incident upon leaving Atlantica. "Huh?"

"You were sleeping and you just said I love you Papa," Ti-Day repeated. "Where you having a dream?"

"Yeah," Ni-Ne said. A tear formed in her eye and then rolled down her face. "I really miss him."

Ti-Day put his arms around her. He didn't really know what she was feeling inside, but he had always been there for Kita when she was going through these things that Ni-Ne was feeling now. "It's ok. I'm sure we'll get a chance to go see him sooner or later."

Kita looked over her shoulder. She started to think about her own father.

"I'm not particularly close to my parents," Riku said out of nowhere. He had his head cradled in his arms lying on the Gummi Ship's dashboard. "I'm guessing you have some family issues if it really is your father behind all of this."

"That's none of your business," Kita said sounding offended.

"Whatever," Riku said blowing off her anger. "We didn't come all this way to watch you run the show. If you wanna do that then I guess the rest of us can just go home and tell ourselves that you've taking care of everything."

"Just because I won't share with you my personal information?" Kita asked. "You're really stupid, you know that?"

"Personally, I just think you're hiding from the rest of us," Riku said. "You've got problems and you won't let anyone help you. But what you don't realize is that everyone has their own problems. Teams are about helping each other." Kita looked at Riku like his voice was painfully annoying to listen to.

"I don't get it," Kita said. "Why are you always bringing that up? Do you just like to make me mad?"

"It's called caring," Riku said. The tone of his voice was serious despite the face that his sentence was somewhat sarcastic. Kita didn't say anything more about it. Riku seemed so intent to get to her despite the fact she pushed him away every time. "Are we ever gonna arrive at the net world?" Riku asked. "It's really stuffy in here."

"I see something up there," Kita said pointing to a speck in the sky. A little world covered in sand was growing gradually in distance.

"Kita?" Hercules voice came over the intercom.

"Hercules? Since when did you become the radio guy?" Kita asked caught off guard.

"It's not important," Hercules answered. "Agrabah is up ahead. We're landing there next."

"Ok, ok," Kita said following Donald's ship closely. Kita realized Riku wasn't kidding about it being stuffy in the ship. She was now more than egger to get out and breathe a little. Flying in close to Agrabah, the two Gummi Ships flew over a little village and straight past a gigantic palace.

"Donald says we're landing in the village," Hercules informed. The two ships flew into a small ally way and landed behind what looked like an abandoned market stand.

As soon as Kita had her ship in park, she jumped out of her seat and ran for the door. She pulled I open to welcome a fresh breath of air, but instead got hit with a blast of hot air. She coughed in shock. "Deserts are hot," Kita said. "I should have seen that coming." Riku looked just as disappointed. The two of them took a few steps outside and collapsed in the hot sand.

"You two are babies," Ti-Day said looking down at them pathetically. Ni-Ne smiled and waved at them as she passed. Pom-Pom started rolling in the sand thinking that was what Kita and Riku were doing. Sora, Donald, Goofy and Hercules were now making their way over.

"All this sand is reminding me of home," Sora said sticking his hands up behind his head. He couldn't linger on the thought for long as a group of heartless appeared surrounding the warriors and holding long machetes threateningly. "Oh boy," Sora said grabbing his Key Blade ready to go.

Kita and Riku jumped up off the ground and drew their weapons. As they did, a black-haired man came running onto the scene. He had a purple vest, baggy patched pants and a sword. "Hi-ya!" He yelled attacking the heartless. He seemed to be having difficulty fighting all alone while everyone else just stood there and stared.

"Thunder!" Sora shouted sending lightening bolts into all the heartless at once.

The man stopped and turned to see the group for the first time. "Woo, who are you? I thought you were just some of the villagers.

"We're the Warriors of Light," Sora said. "I see you've go a heartless problem. We've come to find the keyhole to this world and seal it to stop them from getting in."

"Really? That's awesome!" the man said. "I'm Aladdin," he said sticking out his hand to shake Sora's.

"Sora," Sora introduced himself.

"Listen, there's a huge swam of heartless surrounding the palace right now," Aladdin explained. "Princess Jasmine's in trouble."

"Oh no," Kita said slapping her forehead. "Another Princess of Heart! Aladdin, Jasmine is in more trouble than you know."

"Well then what are we waiting around here for? Lets go!" Aladdin said thrusting his sword up into the air to lead the troops into battle. It didn't take long to reach the palace for as large as the village was. Everyone was worn out quickly from the aspiring heat of the desert. They were more than happy to get into the palace just to have some shade. As they were all catching their breath, Aladdin, so high in spirits, was still way up ahead of everyone running as fast as he could. "You guys aren't giving up now are you?"

"No, just need air," Ti-Day said, huffing and puffing away. Kita looked like she could have died. Hercules was the first to go forwards and catch up to Aladdin.

"Right behind ya," Sora said sounding faint. His head was spinning from the heat.

"_Sora, you're not just gonna sit there are you?_" a distant voice said. Sora looked up and searched all around him.

"Kairi?" he said, still searching.

"You're hearing things," Riku said, just about ready to catch up with Hercules and Aladdin. "Come on Sora." Riku and Sora took off in the direction Hercules and Aladdin had only moments ago. Donald and Goofy were up just as quickly and ran off behind them.

"Ok girls," Ti-Day said. "We gotta get movin."

"Oh but my head feels horrible," Kita said swaying to and fro.

Ni-Ne was a little lighter on her feet and recuperated faster. "Ni-Ne, you catch up. Kita needs to be dragged apparently," Ti-Day said. Ni-Ne didn't really want to leave them behind, but someone else who was in danger was in need of her help. As Ni-Ne dashed away, Ti-Day tried to get Kita up off her feet. Even though he did manage to get her to stand, she still seemed too fried in the head to walk.

"Ooh," Kita said looking sick. She looked over to a doorway that lead into an open hall. There was a figure standing in the middle of the room. His back was turned away from Ti-Day and herself, but Kita was sure it was who she thought it was. "You…" she said sounding suddenly devilish.

"What?" Ti-Day said sounding surprised. "I'm just trying to help you." Kita seemed to make a split second recovery as she started walking towards the big room without telling Ti-Day what was going on. "Um, Kita?"

Kita continued making her way towards the figure. She pulled out her key blade and fastened a tight grip on the handle. She slowly started to break into a run and fumed like a bull. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed as she ran full speed for the figure. He spun around locked eyes with her just before she sliced her key blade down through his body. But something was wrong. Kita's key blade didn't hit anything solid. There was only a swift movement and the figure disappeared as Kita's key blade hit the ground hard.

Ti-Day was jogging now into the room to see what was the matter. "Kita, are you alright? Who where you talking to?"

"My dad," Kita said.

"What? I didn't see your dad," Ti-Day said looking around to make sure he really wasn't there. "Maybe it was just a mirage. You aren't feeling well. It's just your mind playing tricks on you."

Kita was silent. Ti-Day was probably right. But upon seeing Ansem, Kita felt great rage and hatred in her heart towards him. What would happen when they finally met up with the real Ansem? Her anger would surely be unstoppable. Ti-Day stuck out his hand to pull Kita in the right direction. "Come on Kita, let's go." He took her hand and gave her a tug so she followed him.

"THUNDER!" Ni-Ne shouted at the top of her lungs. She had just arrived to find that everyone was having a tough time beating the hundreds of heartless blocking a door where Princess Jasmine must have been kept. Her attacking wasn't taking much effect. "I wonder…" she said to herself. She pulled out the black rose keychain she obtained in Wonderland and attached it to her key blade. It morphed into a black steal key blade with a shiny black rose on the end. "Ok!" Ni-Ne charged forward and started whacking the heartless left and right.

"Wow, that key blade sure is something," Sora said watching Ni-Ne take out the heartless with ease. Ni-Ne was unstoppable. It was her true nature to fight to the death.

Ti-Day and Kita finally arrived to find the large room swarming with heartless that looked like some sort of circus. "Oh boy," Ti-Day said looking around. Ni-Ne was busy plowing the heartless down while Aladdin was cornered. Donald was being suspended in the air while a heartless was playing with his staff. Riku and Sora were still fighting strong, but they were looking tired. Hercules was tossing the heartless out one of the windows clueless to the fact that they were coming right back in only a few window's behind him. Goofy was knocked out in the middle of the madness. "I think we'd better do something."

"Yeah, lets go!" Kita said charging forward. She started with her transformed key blade ready to go. She was able to defeat a good amount of heartless just like Ni-Ne was doing, only not as quickly. Ti-Day ran to the center of the room. "Everyone come over here!" he shouted. Everyone fought their way to the center of the room. Hercules jumped and pulled Donald out of the air to bring him to the center of the room with everyone else.

"Whatcha doin?" Ni-Ne asked holding her guard.

"You'll see," Ti-Day said smiling. "Ok everyone around me? NOW DUCK!"

"What!" Donald yelled looking confused.

"GET DOWN!" Ti-Day shouted again. He held up his magic staff and thought hard about all the heartless. "OBLIDERATE!" he screamed. A huge explosion occurred all around the group. The heartless where all destroyed.

"I must say you're getting good at that," Kita pointed out. After the dust cleared Aladdin ran for the doors that led to Jasmine's room.

"Jasmine! Are you ok?" Aladdin yelled looking for her. He ran to her balcony and found Jasmine tied up.

"Oh look who it is," said a man wearing black and holding a snake staff. "The street rat!"

"Aladdin, help!" Jasmine pleaded.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin said looking at her helplessly. "Jafar, you won't get away with this!"

"Oh? I think I will," Jafar said laughing evilly. "Take that!" A shot of red light came out of Jafar's staff and knocked Aladdin to the ground.

"I'm gonna need Genie for this one," Aladdin said to himself. He reached into his pocket. "Oh no! Where's the lamp?" Aladdin said looking confused.

"Looking for this?" Jafar said holding up a golden lamp.

"Hey! Give that back!" Aladdin said jumping up off the floor and running towards Jafar.

"Ah ah ah. Finder's keepers," Jafar said rubbing the lamp. A huge blue man came out which everyone presumed to be 'Genie'.

"Al, I'm sorry. I serve this guy now," Genie said looking defeated.

"Genie, for my first wish, I wish to be Sultan of Agrabah," Jafar said. Genie pointed his finger at Jafar rather unenthusiastically and Jafar was suddenly wearing a white outfit like a Sultan. "Ha ha, now you shall all bow to me!" With one swift movement of his snake staff, everyone on the balcony was forced into a bowing position except for Princess Jasmine who was still tied up next to Jafar. "I am so happy you could all be here for this." Jafar turned to Princess Jasmine and looked her in the eye. "Marry me," he said.

Jasmine pulled her head away as far as she could. "Never!" she screamed.

"Jafar! Stay away from her!" Aladdin shouted, his head still forced to bow to the ground.

"Very well then. Genie, my second wish. I wish for Princess Jasmine to fall in love with me," Jafar said sounding irritated.

"I can't do that," Genie said looking nervous.


	20. Making Amends

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Making Amends- Chapter 20

If it was hot in the city, it was definitely hotter in the desert. The journey to the keyhole seemed to take forever riding under the scorching sun. "Are we there yet?" Riku asked looking beat.

"Almost," Genie said sounding energetic. Apparently the sun had no affect on him. In only a few moments, something in the horizon came into view. "Wow, the keyhole is here? This is my cave."

"Your cave?" Ni-Ne asked.

"Yep, where Al found my lamp," Genie explained. "The Cave of Wonders."

"It's out in the middle of the desert. What could be so wonderful about that?" Donald asked.

"The treasure of course," Genie said.

"Treasure?" Donald shouted drooling.

"Don't get your hopes up too high," Genie warned. "It's forbidden to touch."

"Oh fewy," Donald said folding his arms in disappointment.

"We're here!" Genie said as everyone landed in front of the cave. It's opening was a large tiger head with an open mouth.

"You sure that's safe?" Ti-Day asked looking into the mouth.

"Al made it in and out ok," Genie explained. "Course he did get stuck for a while when the cave shut him in, but that was when I came into the picture!" Everyone was staring at Genie like he was crazy to assume they were going into the cave now. "What?" he said looking at them. "I can get us out again. I promise. But don't touch the treasure!"

Sora seemed brave enough to step forward and head into the cave first. "Come on guys. There's a keyhole to find. Everyone followed including Genie and Carpet through the tiger's mouth and down into the cave. It was lit by torches inside that flickered an eerie light. Soon enough, huge mounds of treasure where visible.

"Oh baby!" Donald yelled, his eyes meeting the tons and tons of gold and jewels. He started to dart towards a pile.

"Not so fast!" Kita said catching Donald by the collar with her key blade.

"Donald, it's forbidden to touch," Goofy reminded him.

"Fine," Donald said looking like some one took away Christmas.

"Come on, we're following the beam of light," Sora said pointing out the way. The light pointing to the keyhole lead deeper and deeper into the cave. Everyone picked up the pace to find the end. After passing through several rooms of treasure, they ended in a large circular room. A keyhole was glowing across the way from the entrance. "There it is!" Sora pointed out starting in a run towards it. But before he could get there a swarm of heartless filled the room instantaneously.

"Go figure," Ti-Day said holding up his staff. "Let's do this. FIRE!" Streams of fire were shooting out at the heartless. Ni-Ne started whacking the heartless left and right just like she had saving Jasmine. Riku and Sora did the same.

"Genie, can you fight heartless?" Kita asked.

"You bet I can!" Genie said looking excited. He spun around in the circle and huge machine guns appeared on his shoulders. "Just say the word."

"Genie, I wish for you to destroy them all!" Kita said smiling vengefully.

"Let's lock and load. Hiii-ya!" Genie said now shooting bullets around the room. The heartless were gradually disappearing until there were hardly any left.

"Go Sora! Seal it, we'll take care of the rest," Kita shouted cuing Sora. Sora ran for the keyhole and planted his feet in front of it. He raised the Key Blade and a beam of light shot out and covered the keyhole. After hearing the locking sound, the keyhole stopped glowing and vanished entirely. When he turned around, Sora found everyone staring back at him, no more heartless in sight.

"Let's get out of here," Sora said. He ran back to the entrance of the round room with everyone else. Ni-Ne whispered something in Ti-Day's ear that made him look really happy. The two of them slowed down to the back of the group and hid behind a column by the entranceway. Ni-Ne smiled devilishly. Ti-Day leaned in to kiss her, but instead was hit so hard by Ni-Ne's key blade, that he fell unconscious to the ground.

Ni-Ne turned to face the wall where the keyhole had been before. Her eyes were glowing yellow. She walked towards the wall and held up her key blade. The keyhole unlocked. She smiled devilishly again and turned back to Ti-Day and laughed. "_So naïve_," she said. She bent down and picked him up. "_Let's get you back before they come looking for you._" She carried Ti-Day out and hurriedly walked through the treasure rooms. "_As you were_…" the heartless Ni-Ne said pointing her figure at Ti-Day. He snapped back to consciousness as well as Ni-Ne.

"Wah, how'd we get here?" Ti-Day asked feeling lost. "I thought we were just back in the keyhole room."

Ni-Ne looked at him strangely. "No… we were following everyone else. But, they seem to have gone far ahead of us. I'm so confused."

"Yeah, me too," Ti-Day said. "This place isn't called the Cave of Wonders for nothing. We're wondering what just happened. Come one, lets get going." Ti-Day took Ni-Ne's hand and they walked fast to catch up to the rest of the group who hadn't seemed to notice their absence. Just as the group was finally about to leave the cave, Donald decided to hang back. He was eyeing the treasure again, licking his beak with greed.

"Come on Donald. You know you can't have it," Goofy said seeing him. Donald however wasn't listening and as fast as he could, snatched a diamond right off the top of a treasure chest.

"AHHHH, YOU HAVE TOUCHED THE FORBIDDEN TREASURE!" the voice of the cave shouted. Everyone was shaking as though stuck in an earthquake.

"You and that Abu," Genie said swooping down to pick up Donald. "What are we going to do with you?" Everyone ran for the entrance and managed to escape before the mouth of the tiger closed.

"Do you have ADD or something!" Kita shouted at Donald. "You almost got us all killed!"

"He he, sorry," Donald said blushing.

"We should get back," Riku said. "It's getting dark out." The once sunny desert was now fading into the darkness of night. It was much cooler now and the breeze made for a refreshing break after almost being eaten by a cave. Everyone jumped on either Carpet or Genie who was now a super sonic jet. "I wonder if we can stay here tonight. I'm pooped."

"You'll have to ask the Sultan on that one," Genie said. "He's a great guy though."

"I'm sure," Ti-Day said. "Has to be better than that Jafar would have been." The return trip to Agrabah seemed much shorter in the night air. Everyone was tired from fighting all day.

"You're back," Jasmine said running out to great everyone. "I've just asked my father if you could stay the night and he said it would be alright." It was as if she had known what they were all thinking. There was a sigh of relief from everyone of them and they all fell to the ground. Jasmine laughed. "You must be tired. But I thank you all for what you've done for us."

"My king, there has been casualty at war," a man said bowing in respects to Ansem the Wise. Kita, only six years in age, was hiding behind her father as he sat on the throne of the Hallow Bastion throne room. Today was cloudy and the castle seemed dark and dreary. King Ansem had been receiving word of the war that had been taking place in recent times. So many of his people had left to fight, and unfortunately, not all were coming back.

"Who is it this time?" Ansem said getting up to walk with the man. Though Ansem was a busy man, he always wanted to keep the gloomy things in life away from Kita so that she wouldn't have to know how cruel the world could be.

Kita sat behind the throne thinking hard. She didn't understand most of the things her father dealt with on a daily basis. She was trying hard not to pay any attention to what her father and the man were talking about at the moment, but something did reach her ears. "They had a son. He's orphaned now." Kita turned her head to peak out from behind the throne. A little boy was out there all alone. His parents weren't coming home anymore. Tears were forming in her eyes to think of such a thing.

Ansem turned his head to see his daughter watching him. "I'll go look for him," he said. "Kita?" Ansem said holding out his hand waiting for Kita to come take it. She scurried from behind the throne to her father and they departed from the castle together.

Kita had not too often been into the town below the Hallow Bastion castle. She looked and looked for anyone who might be the orphaned boy. She let go of her father's hand to run ahead and check all the ally ways, until she found him. There was a boy sitting on a pile of boxes. Tears were coming from his eyes. Kita approached him slowly trying not to scare him away. It took him a moment to realize she was there, but when he did, he wasn't shy about letting her see his tears.

Kita looked at him curiously. He stared back at her. Before she could say anything, Ansem showed up. The boy looked a little frightened of him at first since he was the King. "I'm sorry," Ansem said. "I know I can't replace them, but you can't live out here on the streets alone. I'd like you to come with me." Kita put a little smile on her face to encourage the boy to come along. She stuck out her hand and waited for him to take it. When he did, he hoped down from the boxes and walked beside Kita behind Ansem. None of them said a word until they returned to the castle.

"You may stay here now," Ansem said. "This is your new home." The boy looked stunned to have been offered so much. Kita, still holding the boys hand, smiled. "If you'll excuse me, I have business to tend to." Ansem finished heading back to his throne room.

Kita pulled the boy down a hallway. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Ti-Day," the boy replied still sounding rather sad.

"Welcome home Ti-Day," Kita said.

Ti-Day's eyes opened suddenly. "Where did that come from?" he said aloud.

"What?" Kita said rolling over. Everyone was rolled up in sleeping bags in the same room. It was something like camping indoors. Ti-Day was laying at Kita's head. She seemed to have been awake as well.

"I had a dream about that day we met," Ti-Day explained.

"Really?" Kita said. "That's kinda random."

"Yeah, I know," Ti-Day said. "Maybe it's a curse from the Cave of Wonders."

"Was it that bad to call meeting me a curse?" Kita laughed.

"No but… what really happened that day…" Ti-Day said looking down. Even though it was his most painful memory, it never seemed to make him sad enough to show. Perhaps he was just really good at putting the past behind him.

"I'm really glad we met," Kita said. "Having you around to hang out with was so much fun."

"I really miss playing pranks on Leon," Ti-Day said. "I hope we run into him soon cause I have a couple good ideas ready to go." Kita laughed hard. Ti-Day had to reach his hand over and cover her mouth from laughing so loud and waking anyone up.

"Sorry," Kita whispered.

"Well, I'm still tired so I'm going back to sleep," Ti-Day said. "Night."

"Night Ti-Day," Kita said rolling over again. She put her hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling of the palace. She wasn't really feeling tired for some reason. Something caught her attention and caused her to look up and out towards the balcony that attached to the room.

"_I have often dreamed of a far-off place. Where a great warm welcome will be waiting for me. Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face, and a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be. I will find my way. I can go the distance. I'll be there someday if I can be strong. I know every mile will be worth my while. I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong,_" someone sang. Kita walked out onto the balcony. "Hercules?" she asked surprised to see him there. "Oh gosh!" Hercules said sounding panicked. "I didn't know you where there. You scared me." "Sorry," Kita said. "I just heard you out here. I didn't know you could sing. That was beautiful." Hercules was rubbing his head and blushing to have been commented by Kita. "Um, it's nothing," he said. "You know. Couldn't sleep…" "Me neither," Kita said. Hercules sat up on the balcony railing. Kita followed him but she looked a little unsure about sitting in such a dangerous place. Hercules held out his hand to pull Kita up. She didn't grab it. "It's ok, I'll make sure you don't fall." Finally Kita did take his hand and he pulled her up with little effort. Kita immediately grabbed the railing for security. It was a long way down in front of her. "If Riku even comes out here and yells 'boo' and I fall… I'll kill him if I survive," Kita said looking at the distance below. "Do you really hate him that much?" Hercules asked. "He acts like he's two sometimes," Kita said making it sound obvious. "So does Ti-Day, but you guys get along really well," Hercules pointed out. "That's different," Kita said. Hercules couldn't see how. "Well, Riku seriously thinks you have a thing for me," Hercules said. "He's always asking me about it." "Punch him the face next time," Kita said coaching him. "You could probably send him flying." Hercules let out a little laugh. "Even though I am a demi-god, I don't use violence to solve my problems. You should try talking to him sometime. Serious talking. He's not really that bad." "Are you trying to set me up with him?" Kita said looking shocked. "No," Hercules said. "Aren't we talking right now? Do you feel like I'm hitting on you?" Kita looked reluctant to say it, but she had no other answer. "No." "See," Hercules said. "He's human too. Give him a chance." "I suppose I could… try," Kita said. She didn't really want to, but something about tonight made her feel like it would be a good idea. "Thanks Hercules," Kita said extending her arm to shake his hand. Hercules took it looking like it was the biggest honor he had ever received. "By the way. What's the song about?" "Oh," Hercules said. "Well, when I was little, I was kidnapped from Mt. Olympus and turned mortal. My dad is Zeus. He's a god, and so is my mom. But since I'm not a god anymore, I have to earn my way back to Mt. Olympus because only gods are aloud. I'm trying to become a true hero. And I sang that song the day I left home cause I promised my dad I was gonna do my best." "I'm sorry I laughed at you before," Kita said. "You were serious about being a hero in training weren't you?" "Yeah, but it's ok," Hercules said. "I get laughed at a lot." "Well I'm not gonna laugh anymore," Kita said. "I've been a real jerk to everyone lately. I'm sorry." "It's ok," Hercules said. "We all make mistakes. I knocked down my whole school on my first day of high school." "Wow, how'd you ever live that down?" Kita asked sounding truly interested in the story. The two talked late into the night until they nearly swayed off the railing and decide it was a good idea to go to bed. Together they returned to the heap of sleeping bags. 


	21. Without A Trace

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Without A Trace-Chapter 21

Kita was wakened by the sound of chaos. She opened her eyes to find a heartless staring down at her. "Don't move!" Riku said. He swung his sword like a golf club and knocked the heartless away. Kita still laid, frozen on the floor with her eyes wide open. She didn't think it was safe for someone to use their weapon that close to her eyeballs.

"What are thinking!" Kita finally said.

"Did you want it to attack you?" Riku said seeing nothing wrong with his valiant efforts to save Kita.

"You could have taken my eyes out just now! Do you want me blind!" Kita asked sounding irritated.

"Just get up," Riku said pulling her arm to lift her off the ground. "We've got a big problem." The group of warriors who had been sleeping only moments ago, were now up and panicked to find heartless surrounding them.

"I thought sealing the keyhole meant the heartless couldn't come in anymore," Sora said sounding confused.

"It does," Donald said. "But someone or something must have opened it up again."

"How?" Goofy asked.

"Beats me," Donald answered. He rushed forward and cast a gravity spell that flattened a few of the heartless. Sora came up behind him and took them out with his key blade. Ti-Day and Ni-Ne used fire spells to destroy a few. Kita, still groggy, was swinging and missing most of the heartless she went after. Riku had to finish the job for her, but she didn't seem to appose it. Hercules was also a bit amiss with his sword skills having been up so late. "How did this happen?" Donald said destroying the last heartless with a freeze spell.

"Sora, you didn't open the keyhole again somehow, right?" Hercules asked.

"No," Sora said. "We left right after you all heard it lock. Remember?"

"Yeah… but what happened after that?" Donald asked.

"I remember Ni-Ne and Ti-Day disappeared for a bit," Goofy said. Everyone's eyes turned to them.

"Well?" Riku asked.

"You honestly think we opened the keyhole?" Ti-Day asked looking offended. "Get real."

"You did disappear," Goofy said.

"You just said yourselves it was Sora's Key Blade that did that kind of stuff," Ti-Day said.

"Yeah, but Ni-Ne can do it too…" Riku said, thinking out loud. "In Wonderland."

"He's got a point," Kita said.

"We didn't do anything!" Ti-Day said getting angry. "I don't even remember anything happening. It was like all the sudden we were just really far behind you."

"Sora was with us," Riku persisted. "Ni-Ne's key blade can seal world's too. And everyone knows keys work two ways. To lock and unlock. Ni-Ne had to be the one who opened it!" Riku pointed at Ni-Ne who was looking shy and embarrassed because she had no idea what they were talking about.

"Me?" she said pointing to herself innocently.

"Riku! Stop." Kita said. No one's pointing fingers here.

"She did it. There's no other explanation," Riku said. "She's got that thing inside her. I'll bet she went back in the room and that heartless unlocked the world!"

"Riku!" Kita persisted in yelling at him to stop. "It's not her fault!"

"This wouldn't have happened if she had stayed with the group," Riku continued.

Ni-Ne's eyes were starting to water. Her friends were fighting, and it was all her fault. "Now look what you've done you jerk," Ti-Day said seriously to Riku. Riku just turned his shoulder and ignored Ti-Day's comment. He knew it was true and he was sticking with his words.

Just then Aladdin came running onto the scene. "You guys! Something bad has happened. Jasmine's gone!"

"Oh no!" Kita said. "They got another Princess."

"I thought you guys were getting rid of the heartless," Aladdin said looking worried.

"We were," Riku said. "But someone opened the keyhole again before we even left the cave." Riku was looking right at Ni-Ne who was tearing.

"Riku! Cut it out!" Kita said kicking him in the face. "Ti-Day's right. You are a jerk." Riku kept his mouth closed, but it didn't change how he felt. "I'm sorry Aladdin. I promise we'll rescue Jasmine. Another princess was kidnapped too and we have to find her."

"I'll go with you," Aladdin said.

"Sorry, we can't take you," Kita said. "King Mickey told us not to bring along people we meet."

"I see," Aladdin said. "Well, I wish you luck. Maybe Genie could go with you?" He handed Sora Genie's lamp. "Please," Aladdin said.

"Ok, but we need to take care of something first," Sora said. He rubbed the magic lamp and Genie came out.

"Can I help ya out little buddy," Genie asked.

"Genie, I wish to return to the keyhole alone," Sora said. With a puff of smoke Sora and Genie disappeared.

"Should have done that the first time," Riku said.

"I'm sorry!" Ni-Ne yelled, mostly to Riku. "I can't control the monster inside my heart. I can't help that I was born this way! I'm just a hazard to everyone. I shouldn't be here. I'll hurt you all…" Ni-Ne had tears streaming down her face. She looked like she was having a storm of internal conflict taking over her soul. "I wanna go home. I want to see Jack. Right now…" she said falling to the ground and covering her face. Ti-Day bent down beside her and put his arm around her.

"Let's go back to Halloween Town," Ti-Day said. "She needs to see Jack." Sora appeared in the next second with Genie by his side.

"Ok, lets go," Sora said. "Just need to find Jasmine and it'll be like this never happened. Good-bye Aladdin. I'm sorry about all this. I promise we'll get Jasmine back."

"Thanks. Be carefully, all of you," Aladdin said looking sad to see them go. Everyone headed back into town to find the Gummi Ships, which were still hidden in an ally. Kita was especially cold shouldered to Riku after accusing Ni-Ne repeatedly for something she couldn't control. Ni-Ne was still crying in Ti-Day's arms. It was a silent trip as everyone avoided speaking to one another. Even Pom-Pom who had been guarding the ships the whole time seemed unhappy. He was glum the entire trip as well sensing the tensions between everyone.

Halloween Town's coordinates proved not to be far from Agrabah. The silent ride didn't last too horribly long. "We're here," Kita said being the first to speak the entire trip. She landed next to Donald's ship in the ally where she and Ti-Day had been before. It looked as though Jack still hadn't gotten around to putting up a new gate yet to replace the one Ti-Day had blown to bits.

Ni-Ne was the fist to race from the ship straight into town. She didn't say anything to anyone else. Kita and Ti-Day were back in their Halloween town costumes. Sora, Donald Goofy, Hercules and Riku had never been there before, so it was obvious they were confused as to how their clothes changed.

Sora was wearing a ragged suit that had little bat wings sprouting out of this back. A pumpkin covered one of his eyes and vampire fangs were sticking out of his mouth. Donald looked like a mummy, but the parts of his body that were exposed were invisible all together. Goofy was also wearing rags, but his nose was now pointed with a little pumpkin stuck to the end. Strangest of all his eyes no longer matched which may have been caused by the gigantic screw sticking out of his head. Hercules looked like Frankenstein. He was a greenish color with bolts coming out of is muscular neck. Riku quite simply had sprouted fur and turned into a werewolf.

"What gives?" Riku said examining himself and the others.

"It's just a special part of this world," Kita explained. Riku's werewolf ears perked up upon seeing Kita in her form fitting bat costume. Kita failed to notice his expression as she turned towards town and started making her way into follow Ni-Ne. Ni-Ne didn't get far as everyone saw her standing in Town Square looking horrified. The Town Square was in ruins. The fountain that usually stood in the middle was now crumbled and leaking everywhere. Many of the lampposts were doubled over. An iron fence was laying flat on the ground. Many of the stones in the surrounding buildings had fallen out of the walls. There were a few small fires burning in piles of broken wood.

"What happened?" Ni-Ne asked quietly starting to cry again. She had forgotten about the entire Agrabah incident and instead started to worry about Jack. "Papa?" Ni-Ne started yelling in all directions. "Papa, where are you?"

"Jack!" Ti-Day joined in. "It's us. Ni-Ne, Kita and Ti-Day! Please come out if you're here!"

"Ni-Ne?" Jack's voice said. He sounded weak. He came out from behind a pile of ruins. "Ni-Ne? You came back?" Ni-Ne ran as fast as she could towards Jack. She wrapped her arms around his thin, boney body.

"What happened?" she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"The heartless destroyed everything after you left," Jack explained. "I had most of the residence leave town to hide somewhere else. I've been living with Dr. Finkelstein and Sally. We've had to fight the heartless off but they just keep coming back."

"This world hasn't been sealed yet," Sora explained. "They'll keep coming until then."

"Papa, I'll fix this. I promise," Ni-Ne said. "We'll rebuild Halloween Town."

"That could take forever," Kita said. "We've got princesses to find, remember?"

"Then go," Ti-Day said. "We'll stay here. Ni-Ne can seal this world. Jack needs our help."

"You're not coming?" Kita asked looking shocked.

"You've got Sora," Ti-Day said. "Just go Kita. I have faith you guys will be ok without us. Ni-Ne needs some time to recover." Ti-Day looked at Riku for a moment and looked away again. Kita looked worried. Ni-Ne hadn't been herself lately and anything could happen if Kita wasn't there to help if something went wrong. She was devastated the first time Ti-Day had been taken away when the dark hole swallowed him up, and now she was left with the choice to keep going on this journey without him. They had grown up together and he had always been there for her when she needed him. How could she be brave if he was so far away?

As if Ti-Day could read her mind he walked up to her and gave her a big hug. "I promise, we'll be together again," he said. "Just for a while, I need to be here for Ni-Ne and Jack." Kita looked like she could have cried, but because she was so tough, she didn't let a single tear fall. "Riku will take care of you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Kita said rolling her eyes to look back at him.

"Try not to kill each other, ok?" Ti-Day said half joking, half serious.

"It won't be easy," Kita said. Finally Kita was able to turn and head back to the ships. "I got some extra seats, anyone wanna come?"

"I call Sora!" Riku shouted making the decision for everyone else.

"What? Who says?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, who says?" Goofy asked looking just as defensive.

"Me. Come on Sora," Riku said. In the end his plan didn't work and so no one from Donald's ship came over to Kita's, which Kita was rather uncomfortable with. She didn't really want to be left alone with Riku of all people. Even Pom-Pom had decided to leave to camp out with Ni-Ne and Ti-Day in Halloween town. Kita looked out the front window of the ship as Ti-Day, Ni-Ne, Pom-Pom and Jack waved their good-byes to everyone. A tear fell from her eye to see her friends left behind.

"Cheer up," Riku said suddenly appearing out the corner of her eye. He was back to looking like himself again as they departed from Halloween Town.

"Why don't you shut up!" Kita said coldly. "You think you can go around pointing fingers at people and then be all buddy buddy? I don't think so!"

"Ok, fine. I'm sorry about that," Riku said. "I got all mad cause we went through all that hard work for nothing. Princess Jasmine got taken anyway. Don't you ever get mad when things go wrong?" Kita didn't say anything. "What if you had been taken?"

"Why do you say that?" Kita asked. "I'd think you'd be happy cause then we wouldn't fight anymore."

"No," Riku said. "I'd be worried. And so would Ti-Day and everyone else. If Princess Jasmine was kidnapped, then it could have been any of us." Kita had a feeling in the back of her mind that Riku was playing some kind of psychological game with her mind, but the look on his face suggested other wise. He did look scared.

"Kairi's missing," Riku said. "I thought the three of us would always be together and then she vanished without a trace. We have no idea where she is. It's not fair that Sora found me and she's still lost out there somewhere."

Kita had never thought about it that way. She would easily go on a raging warpath if Ti-Day or Ni-Ne had been kidnapped that night. Perhaps she and Riku shared the same sort of rage when it came to fighting for people they cared about. More than anything, Kita was starting to get freaked out by the way she was beginning to understand these things as though Hercules had been right about 'talking' being the answer.

The Gummi Ship's had been traveling for nearly an hour and no new world was in sight. Kita was feeling sleepy having been waken long before she would have liked to be. Her eyes were droopy and she felt like she was falling into some sort of dream. "_Kita_?" a voice called out to her in the back of her mind.

"Huh?" Kita asked.

"Are you ok?" Riku said looking at Kita like she was crazy. He was only just now noticing the sleepy expression on her face. "Why'd you just say, 'huh?"

"Someone said my name," Kita said. She looked out the window for some reason thinking it had come from outside.

"Maybe, I should drive for a while," Riku suggested. "You don't look so good."

"No… you don't know how," Kita said in a monotone. It was almost as if her mind was completely gone. She was dazed and for all Riku could guess, sleepwalking. "What's that?" Kita asked looking out the window and a tiny mass floating through space.

"I think you're seeing… things," Riku finished catching sight of the mass Kita was looking at. He didn't believe there was anything out there, but in fact there was. "What the?" Riku reached for the radio to talk to Donald about it feeling Donald had missed a world on the map. However, Kita slapped his hand to stop him.

"Let's just go check it out really fast," Kita said. She turned the ship towards the land to find that it was in fact like a world. It reminded her of the Deep Jungle where Tarzan lived, but there was much more water. Riku was crossing his fingers hoping with all hope that Kita was conscious enough to land the ship without crashing and killing them both.

"Hey, where'd Kita's ship go?" Hercules asked looking back. He got up and looked at Donald's radar screen. Kita's Gummi Ship was nowhere in sight.

"Huh?" Donald said noticing her absence. "She was right behind me!"

"Is this bad?" Sora asked seeing the same blank screen.

"Yep," Goofy said looking worried. "Did they get attacked while we weren't watching?"

"I don't know, but if they landed anywhere, it would show up," Donald said looking panicked.

"Maybe she went back to Halloween Town?" Sora suggested.

"Nope," Donald said. "Impossible. I am a hundred percent positive she was behind me five minutes ago and even if she turned around, she would still show up right now."

"I hope the Gummi Ship isn't flinching," Goofy said.

"Glitching!" Donald corrected him.

"Do you think Ansem got them?" Sora asked sounding scared.'

"I really don't know," Donald said.

Hercules looked out the back of the Gummi Ship searching for Kita's ship. "Where did you go?" he said quietly to himself.


	22. Atlantis

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Atlantis-Chapter 22

Miraculously Kita managed a safe and near perfect landing amidst the plentiful trees on this strange world. Though her adrenaline was rushing through her veins with anticipation, her body and mind were still fatigued. For a moment, Kita and Riku sat upright in their chairs looking out the front of the Gummi Ship at the new world. It was a sunny forest with huge lakes all over the place. The breeze blowing through the trees and the small waves crashing on the banks of the lakes looked far more refreshing than the jungle they had previously visited. Without much conversation, Riku and Kita left the ship finally receiving the wave of fresh, cool air they'd been searching for.

"Well, there's not much here, but it's not bad," Riku said stretching his arms. He looked beside him at Kita who looked as tired as ever. She closed her eyes and fell to the ground. "Hey! You ok?"

"Yep," Kita said sounding happy. "I'm just gonna take a little nap."

"I thought this was gonna be a quick visit," Riku pointed out. "You do know Donald's still flying around out there probably wondering where you are." His words were too late. Kita was out cold. So instead of interrogating her, Riku walked to the shore of the lake closest to the ship. The water was unbelievable clear. Riku bent down and scooped out some water and drank it. "Much better than the salt water back home," he said to himself.

Riku was beginning to notice that this world seemed too peaceful. Now that he had time to think about it, where were all the heartless? Then again he didn't notice any people either so maybe it wasn't a world the heartless would bother terrorizing. Riku walked back to Kita to make sure she hadn't moved. When he got there unfortunately, his visions of this being the perfect world were shattered. There stood a heartless right over Kita's head. "Hey, leave her alone!" Riku said pulling out his blade. He chased the heartless away this time before attacking it to avoid injuring Kita. As he did, the heartless seemed rather eager to get away. It scurried into a bush.

"Come on out and fight like a man," Riku taunted the heartless. However, he was stunned to see at least one hundred pairs of glowing yellow eyes appear out the shrubs staring back at him. "I said like a man, not like an army of men," he said before darting in the other direction. Riku ran back to Kita and started to shake her shoulder. "I know you'll kill me for this, but you have to get up… NOW!"

"What?" Kita said looking annoyed. She rolled over to give Riku a nasty look, but the group of heartless coming her way caught her eyes first. She jumped to her feet as fast as she could, pulled out her key blade and prepared to fight. She and Riku stood back-to-back, whacking every heartless that came at them. To their misfortune, more and more were appearing out of nowhere.

"This isn't working," Riku said.

"Yeah, I can see that," Kita said.

"Come on!" Riku said grabbing Kita's hand and pulling her away from the site. She turned to see that they were headed straight for the lake.

"Um, you know what you're doing?" Kita asked doubtfully.

"Nope," Riku answered still charging for the water. "Take a deep breath and swim." Together they lunged into the water and swam away from the heartless infested shore. Kita took a moment to look back and see that there were now ten times as many heartless as when they had begun fighting them. She took a breath and dove underwater. The clarity of the water made it easy to see. Riku had stopped swimming and was hovering in the water. Kita swam up to him to see what was the matter. He was looking straight down to the bottom where more heartless where waiting for them.

"Wal we ooh now," Kita said, her words drowned out by water.

"Wim!" Riku shouted kicking back to the surface. Together he and Kita broke surface and started gasping for air.

"Got anymore brilliant plans?" Kita asked. But before she could catch her breath, she was suddenly sucked back under water.

"Kita!" Riku shouted taking a deep breath and diving down to retrieve her. It looked as though a heartless had reached out one of its tentacles and dragged Kita down to the bottom of the lake. Riku was beginning to wonder if he'd be able to reach her without drowning himself. He swam as fast as he could, watching Kita struggle to break free. She was getting tired and running out of air fast. Another water heartless jumped in Riku's way and prevented him from getting to Kita. He had to fight the heartless off to get through, but when he had finally destroyed it, he was out of breath. He had no choice but to surface again for more air or they would both drown.

When he was refreshed, he swam down again immediately, but Kita was hanging limply in the heartless's grip. Suddenly out of nowhere, someone came swimming through the water. Riku watched as he continued to approach. The person swam up to the heartless and attacked it with a spear-like weapon, forcing it to drop Kita. The person caught Kita and started to swim off with her.

"Eeey!" Riku tried to shout, but his voice was too muffled. He followed the person, ignoring the fact that he was running out of air. As he watched, the mysterious person suddenly vanished. It was as if they had swam behind an invisible curtain. Riku looked puzzled feeling as though he was losing his mind, but he had no choice but to keep going. He kept his eye on the spot where Kita and the stranger had just disappeared. When he reached it, he noticed there was absolutely nothing there. He held up his sword in front of him to try hitting something, but instead, the end of his sword disappeared. Riku reached out his hand and saw it disappear too. Finally he concluded just to swim forward.

He passed through an invisible wall of water. On the other side, he fell to hit a hard ground. He gasped for breath noticing that there was air here as well. He looked up to see a wall of water floating beside him. He could see the heartless swimming around on the other side. "Where am I?"

Riku turned his head to see that this strange place was even more mysterious. He was now lying on a rock path that led to an ancient city he could see before him. There were buildings, trees, fields and even the sky. "I must be dreaming," Riku said to himself feeling as though this whole place was impossible. He knew he had to get with it because someone had Kita, and he would have to find her. He got up and started to walk down the stone path towards the city. He stood in awe of its mystery. How could a city surrounded by land and sky be hidden below a lake? It made no sense to him.

"Come on, a stranger has come to Atlantis!" a boy said to his friend as the two hurried down the path into the city. Could they have been referring to Kita? Riku followed them, keeping a watch out just incase anyone thought he was an intruder, even though he really was. He arrived in front of a temple, which was impossible to get to due to the crowd of people. Something was strange about the people now that Riku was seeing so many of them together. They all had white hair. Riku climbed up a heap of rocks so he could see over the crowd and watch from a distance. There in the center was a cleared circle where the strange person and an unconscious Kita were in front of a man who looked like the king.

"Lollahec, why have you brought an outsider into Atlantis. You know it is forbidden!" the old king said.

"She is not an imposter," the woman pleaded. "She was in trouble, I had to save her from the heartless."

"And risk being killed yourself?" the king said. "The heartless are on the outside for a reason. How do you know she isn't dangerous?"

"Does she look dangerous to you!" the woman shouted. "I know she is not bad."

"How?" the king asked unbelieving.

"Because she is my daughter!" the woman shouted back. Riku almost slipped and fell from the rocks upon hearing this. Everyone in the crowd seemed just shocked. There were gasps everywhere as everyone started to murmur.

"So you were not only married on the outside, you had a daughter as well?" the king said sounding like it was the greatest crime he had ever heard of.

"I wanted her to be free from the curse that keeps us trapped here," the woman explained. "I only came back so that I would have the chance of seeing her again. I would have died when she was little if I had stayed out there."

"I thought that was what you wanted Lollahec," the king said. "You hated being here and so you left knowing you would die if you were gone for too long."

"But I found purpose out there," the woman said. "Someone who cared about me, and loved me. When Kita was born I wanted to live just to know that she was alive. And I only hoped that we would meet again, and we are together now. What is wrong with that?"

"Because she doesn't belong here," the king said. "Only Atlantians are aloud."

"But she is!" the woman said. "She is a part of me, and I am Atlantian!"

"But she was born on the outside," the king said, sticking to his rules. "So either you get rid of her now or we'll have to kill her. She should never have come here." The woman was crying with anger. She hung her head in disbelief that they were going to kill her daughter. "Guards. Take her away."

"Not so fast!" Riku said jumping down from the rocks. He was able to leap over the crowd and into the cleared circle where Kita and the woman were. "Don't lay a finger on her," Riku said, a devilish look in his eyes. The guards were surprise to see Riku suddenly enter the scene.

"Another intruder!" the king said. "Lollahec, this is all your fault. He probably followed you in."

"Shut up," Riku said, having no respect for the foreign leader.

"Get out of my kingdom or so help me I'll have you beheaded!" the king fought back.

"I'm not going anywhere without Kita," Riku said staring the king down. The woman who had been defending Kita got up and stood between Riku and the king.

"Please your majesty," she said, tears in her eyes. "I've waited my whole life to see her again. What if you never get to see your daughter again? My daughter can leave this place, and she can find Princess Kidagakash." There were more murmurs from the crowd. The king put his guard down in hearing these words. He watched the woman cry in front of him, thinking about what she had said. Riku just stared at both of them feeling clueless as to what they were talking about. The king lowered his head in defeat.

"I suppose you're right about this Lollahec," the king said. "Take her to the healer," were his new orders. The woman raised her head and smiled through her tears. She turned to Riku.

"Do you know Kita?" the woman asked. Standing in front of Riku she was much taller than he was. She looked just like Kita with tan skin, long white hair and vibrant pink eyes.

"Yeah. We sorta save the universe together," Riku explained. He knew he was standing in front of Kita's mother. Someone Kita had been searching for her whole life and was now unconscious and missing it.

"Thank you for coming here," the woman said. "I am Lollahec. Kita's mother."

"Umm, nice to meet you. Ma'am," Riku said, not sure what to do. "And really, it was Kita's idea to come here. She said someone was calling her name and she was drawn here."

"I was thinking about her," Lollahec said. "Perhaps she could hear my heart calling out to her. Come. We should see how she's doing." Together she and Riku went to the healer's building. They arrived to find that Kita had been changed into a cream colored dress to replace her wet clothes. Riku however was still drenched from his arrival.

"Just curious. How did you know she was your daughter?" Riku asked.

"Because I knew from when she born that she looked just like me," Lollahec said admiring her daughter. "How long have you known her?"

"Not long really," Riku explained. "I came from another world. She was with some others and when we all met up in the Magic Kingdom, we just sorta stuck together. My friend Sora seals the worlds to prevent the heartless from coming. Basically that's why we travel from world to world. We're trying to find Ansem and stop the darkness."

Lollahec hung her head. "I fear that all this madness is my fault. When I left Hallow Bastion, I couldn't tell Ansem where I was going. He's probably been trying to find me, but he will never succeed."

"Why not?" Riku asked. "Kita and I got here."


	23. The Inner Darkness

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

The Inner Darkness- Chapter 23

"Finally we're finished…" Jack said as he wiped his sweat off his forehead.

Ti-Day slumped against a wall to relax his sore bones. The town folk came back and helped them to restore the town. For eleven hours, they worked non-stop to repair their beloved town.

"Jack?" The mayor ran to the Pumpkin King and pulled out a scroll.

"What is it, Mayor?"

"Well, the good news is there are no more heartless, thanks to Ni-Ne. The bad news, we still have to finish planning the next Halloween Festival. It's only a month away, Jack!" The worrying mayor said with his worry face on.

"Alright…" Jack said as he walked away with the Mayor.

Ti-Day watched them walking away from the scene, and then he turned his attention to Ni-Ne. Ni-Ne sat on the newly built fountain with her key blade in front of her, she felt terrible from the Agrabah incident. Her head was down and she grasped her key blade's handle tightly.

Ti-Day stood up and walked toward to the fountain. Ni-Ne looked up. Ti-Day saw her red puff eyes. He sat down next to her and gave a hug, however she pushed him gently away from her.

"No, I'm sorry Ti-Day," Ni-Ne said sadly. "I need a time to think. I need to be alone right now."

"Is it the argument with Riku in Agrabah? Don't pay any attention to that jerk, he doesn't know what he is talking about."

Ni-Ne stared at him, "It's not that… I just need space, okay." She got up and walked away, leaving him alone.

"Ni-Ne… I wish I could help you…" Ti-Day sighed.

Ni-Ne walked toward to a crooked house that was Jack's home. She opened the gate and climbed up to the porch. She reached into her left pocket and pulled out a black key. She unlocked the door and walk in. She closed the door behind her and slumped her back against it.

"Why me?" She whispered to herself.

Ni-Ne went to the staircase and made her way to her bedroom. She locked her door and looked around. There was her grand black bed on the middle of her room, her nightstand on the right and her dresser on the left, right beside it, a human sized mirror with a golden frame on it. The huge window illuminated her room with a bright bluish glow. She ran toward her bed, landed face down and cried.

"It's not my fault I was born this way… Why did I have to be a heartless?"

She cried and slowly her eyes started to get heavy. She closed her eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

"_Ni-Ne…_"

She woke up quickly and looked around. No one was in her room, only her.

"_Don't hide from me, Ni-Ne. Accept the truth about yourself, my sweet Ni-Ne."_

Ni-Ne slowly got off her bed and looked once again. She looked under her bed and in her closet. "Show yourself, stranger!"

"_Glad to…"_

Her shadow grew bigger and peeled right off the floor and stood before her. Her shadow took a form of a woman with pale skin, long black straight hair, and a black v-cut dress. She smirked evilly in front of her and chuckled. Ni-Ne backed away from the strange woman. The woman fiercely took her hand and pulled her to an embrace. Ni-Ne was in a state of shock thinking that the woman was absolutely insane.

"Who are you dark being? Are you my heartless?" Ni-Ne questioned her.

"_Yes, I am your heartless, Ni-Ne…" _The woman whispered into her ear and licked it.

Ni-Ne shivered by the coldness of her tongue against the ear. She started to struggle. "Let go of me!" She screamed.

"_Never. Accept me..." _the woman said.

Ni-Ne stared at her dangerously and pushed her away then hugged her own body to protect herself. The woman laughed and glared at her. She gracefully walked toward to her, pulled her in straight and grasped her chin closer to her face. Ni-Ne realized her face was so close, the woman looked like she is going to kiss her.

"W-what is your name?" She trembled.

"_When you're ready, Ni-Ne…" _She said softly like the silent wind.

She turned her around and made her to face the mirror. She held her face with her black clawed hand and placed her lips close to her left ear and whispered.

"_You and I were born together. We're two halves of a person, my nightingale. I am your shadow and you are my mask to hide your true self. We are the goddesses of the night, Ni-Ne. We have the power to control the heartless and the True Darkness. You've wondered why the Heartless stop in their own tracks when you are there. It is because they're afraid to hurt their own goddess. Trust me, Ni-Ne. Accept your inner darkness, your inner self. How else will you find your past and the truth of your family?"_

Ni-Ne's eyes shot wide open. "My family?" she slowly started crying.

"_Yes, your family, Ni-Ne… The truth is your family were powerful warlocks and witches who were royal to the kingdom. However, someone was also the first heartless in your family. A human heartless… This is your true self, take your true identity and show it to the whole world. You are the key that can unlock the Door…"_

"A key… to the Door? No one wonder Ansem wanted me." Ni-Ne stared at herself mirror. She thought deeply about the truth. Riku was right…

"I'm a just a monster who… w-who…" She couldn't finish her sentence and cried.

"_They aren't your friends, Ni-Ne. They're afraid of us. They don't care about us. They hurt you in Wonderland and Agrabah. Don't take their side, my precious. They broke their promise, and they will pay with their lives. They abused you. They are afraid of you, scared of you, telling you lies!"_

Ni-Ne looked at her refection, thinking about herself… "I only see a heartless staring back. That heartless is me." She clutched her fists and narrowed her dark purple eyes.

"_Yes, Ni-Ne… Feel the rage coursing through your veins. Rage is power. Rage is freedom. Let it feed your hunger."_

The woman transformed into a black fog, surrounding Ni-Ne. She gasped as the black fog forced itself to her mouth and she swallowed it hard. She coughed and kneeled on the floor and clutched her stomach. She fell laying her back against the floor, and felt the burning sensation in her chest, her stomach, between her legs and through her toes and all over. She moaned in pain and arched her back. She panted harder, feeling her lungs contracting. She felt a deep painful sensation inside her throat and she roared it out. She twitched and crawled to the mirror. She grasped the golden frame of the mirror and pulled herself up. She placed all her weight on the cool surface of the mirror. She breathed deeply, feeling the burn fading away from her body. She pushed back a little and glared at the mirror. She widened her eyes and surprisingly her hair was black as the night and her eyes were the color of the Harvest Moon.

"_Tell me, what are you now?" _the heartless asked

Ni-Ne narrowed her eyes and said, "I am the Darkness…"

"_Yes, tell me more…"_

"I am the Shadow. I am the Night. I am the goddess. I am…"

"_YES! Tell me, who you really are, Ni-Ne. Say it! SAY IT! Don't hold back!"_

She raised her fist and slowly pulled it back. She aimed her fist to the mirror.

"I am… A HEARTLESS!" Ni-Ne punched the mirror hard, causing the mirror to shatter and glass to fly in all directions. She stared down at her bleeding hand. "Tell me Heartless… I'm ready. Tell me your name."

The woman chuckled. "_Well then… My name is…_"

Ti-Day sat on the newly built fountain in the center of town thinking about Ni-Ne. As he did, Ni-Ne made an appearance as Ti-Day spotted her walking towards the graveyard. However, she didn't look the same. Something was definitely different. Her hair was dark like raven feathers. Her skin was ghostly pale. And worst of all Ti-Day noticed her eyes were glowing lightly like the eerie harvest moon. His heart sank feeling something bad had happened. Nevertheless he got up and left the fountain to follow Ni-Ne.

As he got closer, he realized he'd lost sight of her. He looked everywhere through the trees but there was no sight of Ni-Ne. As he searched, he heard a voice singing in the distance. It was so beautiful and he felt like he must follow the voice and find out where it was coming from. In the graveyard, he found Ni-Ne sitting on one of the tall headstones. She was looking off into the distance singing peacefully.

As Ti-Day approached her, he started to feel sleepy. His own weight was too much to carry and his legs buckled underneath him and he collapsed to the ground. He couldn't hold his eyes open any longer and like a baby hearing its lullaby Ti-Day fell asleep.

Ni-Ne finished her song and turned her head to see Ti-Day out cold on the ground next to her. She jumped down like a cat in the night and walked over to sleeping Ti-Day. "_Let the Dead sleep, my love,_" she said, whispering into his ear.

A twig in the forest snapped and Ni-Ne looked up. "Well, well… look what we have here. Ni-Ne Nite and a sleepy little red grim reaper. HA!" said a large bag-creature covered in patches.

"Oogie Boogie. It's been a long time," Ni-Ne replied to the lurker in the shadows. "My how you changed," Oogie Boogie said checking out Ni-Ne's new get up.

"You like?" Ni-Ne said with a devilish smile. Then without warning she pulled out her key blade and pointed it straight at Oogie Boogie. "What did I do this time?" Oogie said. "Well, if you wanna fight Ms. Nite, then let the fun begin," Oogie summoned a heartless to the spot and ordered it to attack Ni-Ne.

"You fool," Ni-Ne said laughing. "Guess again."

Oogie looked down at his heartless that was still standing in one place. Repeatedly he ordered it to attack Ni-Ne, but it remained firmly in place. "B-but why? What's going on here!"

"I control the heartless now idiot," Ni-Ne said smiling even more devilishly than before. "They wouldn't hurt their goddess now would they?" She laughed at him and her eyes glared and evil glare. Oogie thought it best just to attack her himself and so he charged at her and body slammed her with his baggy body. Ni-Ne was flattened and knocked out by the immense impact. The heartless that had been standing in front of Oogie before now started to move in on him looking mad. But before it could get far, a bolt of lightening came down from the sky and the hit the heartless causing it to disappear.

"Huh?" Oogie said looking around. A woman wearing all black who's face appeared green stood behind Oogie.

"I see you've finally managed to catch the infamous Ni-Ne Nite," said the woman.

"Maleficent," Oogie said catching sight of her.

"Good work Oogie," Maleficent said coldly. "Her powers will be most useful to our plans. Bring her to your lair. And hurry!" As Ti-Day slept, unaware, the villains took unconscious Ni-Ne away.


	24. At Last

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

At Last-Chapter 24

Kita was slowly starting to wake. She slowly opened her eyes to a sunny room made of marble and stone. She looked out of the corner of her eye without moving her head to see curtains blowing in the wind. There was an arched doorway with a curtain blocking the view of whatever may be on the other side. Kita lifted her head slightly to look around. The first thing to catch her eye was Riku whose head was lying on the bed next to her. He was asleep. Kita continued to look around the foreign setting trying to figure out where she was. She sat up for the first time noticing she was now wearing something different. For a moment she looked at Riku hoping with all hope it wasn't him who had changed them.

The last thing she could remember, she had fainted underwater. She thought to herself that Riku may have saved her, but where were they now? As she moved around to look more, Riku woke up. "Hey, you're awake," he said.

"Riku, where are we?" Kita said sounding worried.

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," Riku said smiling.

"Tell me! It's probably insane no matter how true it is," Kita said.

"We're in Atlantis," Riku explained. "Someone rescued you and I followed them in and ended up here. It really is a crazy place. This whole world is underwater, but there's a sky and land… I don't know how to explain."

"That is strange," Kita said. "Is this the same world we landed on and got attacked by the heartless?"

"Yep," Riku said. Kita got up and wondered over to the window. She seemed so curious to figure out where she was and how she'd gotten there. The sun hit her face and made her new silky cream colored dress glow. The sun was setting outside the window as Kita watched all sorts of people walking around and bustling about in the city.

"They all have white hair," Kita said. "That's so strange."

"Hey, at least we fit in," Riku said jokingly.

"Riku, who saved me?" Kita asked. She sounded nervous.

"I'll think I'll let her tell you," Riku said. "Let me go get her. Maybe you should sit down for this." Kita gave Riku a strange look as he exited the arched doorway.

Kita made her way back to the bed though she didn't know why she was taking Riku's advice. Moments later Riku returned with an adult woman who had long white hair and bright pink eyes. Kita's mouth dropped open feeling she may know who this woman was. "Hello Kita," the woman said.

"Mom?" Kita asked quietly finding it hard to speak. The woman smiled confirming Kita's suspicion. Tears started to come from Kita's eyes as she starred into her mother's eyes hardly able to believe it was really her. Riku left the two alone to catch up on quite a few years that Kita had never been able to share with her mother before now.

"This might sound like a stupid question, but I don't know your name," Kita said. Ansem had never shared his wife's name with Kita even though she had heard of her mother many times.

"My name is Lollahec," she answered.

"I know that name, but from where?" Kita said thinking out loud. "Oh yeah, it was written on a plaque above dad's laboratory door.

"I remember that lab," Lollahec said. "Your father worked there all the time. He was studying plants. But if he's the one responsible for the heartless, I'd say his experiments took a wrong turn somewhere."

"Yeah, he met King Mickey who came from another world and ever since all he wanted to do was find out how to get to other worlds," Kita explained. "He was obsessed. I hardly ever saw him. And then when I did, he was different." Kita started trailing off. She remembered so clearly the day she saw her father after several weeks down in his lab. He looked different and acted different. From that day on, nothing was the same. "It's like he stopped loving me."

"The Ansem I married was nothing like that," Lollahec said. "I fear that because I left so suddenly, he's been working too hard at finding me and it's lead to dark intentions and corrupted his mind. But he really seemed like someone who would know better…" Kita and Lollahec were looking sad now thinking about the man they were both connected to who had strayed so far away. Trying to switch to a better topic, the two talked late into the night. It was dark now in the undersea world of Atlantis and even though Kita had been sleeping most of the day, she was pretty tired again.

Kita, Riku and Lollahec moved from the healer's to Lollahec's house. It was just a little place since there was no need for more room than one. Lollahec greatfully gave up her bedroom for Kita. Riku offered to sleep outside, but Lollahec wasn't about to let him suffer. She made up a little pile of blankets across the room from Kita attempting to make a mattress enough to sleep on. The floors were too cold and hard to sleep on, so Lollahec tried her best. She ended up moving out to a homemade hammock in her kitchen.

Kita lay awake for a while in bed staring out a window up at the stars. She thought about Ti-Day and how far away he was. Without him she was sad and felt alone and weak. He was like a brother who had taken the place of her parents when they fell void in her life. Now she was with her mother and Riku somewhere far away feeling lost. Tears were coming out of her eyes uncontrollably. She made a few weeping noises on accident.

"You ok Kita?" Riku asked from the floor. Apparently he hadn't fallen asleep either.

"Yeah," Kita said trying really hard to make it sound like she wasn't crying. Riku stayed silent doubting it, but he didn't want to bother her if she didn't feel like talking. Too many times had he rubbed her the wrong way when she'd rather have been left alone. This time, he knew better. He laid in silence only to hear Kita continuing to sob.

"I feel so lost," Kita said. "I just found my mother after all these years, and it feels like she's only a stranger to me. I find it hard to love my father after how much he's changed. And the only person who's ever really been there for me is far away right now. I don't know who I'm trying to fool by acting like I'm strong… because I'm not."

Riku sat up figuring it would be ok to speak since Kita had started it. "I think you are. It takes a lot to live through everything you have. I don't know if I'd be able to handle it all as well as you have."

Kita let out a tiny laugh that seemed a little sarcastic. "Yeah right… I've been treating you like crap since the day we met. Let me ask you something. If you knew what was in store, would you still have saved me from drowning in that tank?" It had been awhile since either of them had thought about the dream in which they first met. Riku was a little caught off guard by its mentioning.

"Yeah," Riku said with a smile on his face. "I don't regret doing that." Kita rolled over to see Riku on the floor. By now her eyes had adjusted to the dark and the little bit of moon like coming into the room made Riku visible on the floor. He was looking at her with a serious look on his face. His electric blue eyes were glowing and seemed too entrancing to look away from. It was like seeing him for the first time. Somewhat unreal like the dream. Kita's heart was racing as he stared back at her.

"Will you be alright now?" Riku asked.

"Yes," Kita said in barely a whisper. Then Riku smiled, rolled over and closed his eyes to go to sleep. Kita however remained starring wide eyed for a while, so many mixed emotions flooding through her. It wasn't until a few hours later that she finally fell asleep.

"Where is everyone?" Sora asked walking through Town Square with Donald, Goofy and Hercules. The foursome had returned to Halloween Town after many pointless hours of searching for Kita's ship in outer space. "I thought this place was getting repaired."

"Looks pretty good to me," Goofy said. "I'd say they've already finished."

"Yeah, but where's everyone now?" Hercules asked. "Think the town's people have come back yet?"

"I doubt Ti-Day, Ni-Ne, Jack and Pom-Pom fixed the entire town themselves this fast," Sora said. "Ti-Day! Ni-Ne! Kita! Riku! Anyone!"

"Kita's not here. How many times do I have to tell you that," Donald said.

"How do you know?" Hercules said.

Just then Pom-Pom showed up hurriedly flying through the town square towards the group. He was squealing frantically and trying to get everyone to follow him. "What is it boy?" Donald asked. Pom-Pom bounced behind Donald and pushed him in the back. "Ok! Don't be so pushy. He wants us to go to the graveyard."

"Well then, lets go!" Hercules said charging towards the woods. It didn't take long for the group to reach the graveyard. They're questions where answered as to where everyone was. Jack and a group of Halloween Town inhabitants were standing in a circle around Ti-Day who was looked like he'd just woken up.

"Ti-Day, where's Ni-Ne?" Sora asked.

Ti-Day hung his head. "I don't know," he said. He looked scared. "I saw her come out of Jack's house and she didn't look right. So I followed her and I found her singing here in the graveyard, but I fell asleep before I could reach her. And I just woke up to find out she's no where to be found."

"I wonder where's she gotten to," Goofy said scratching his head. "Have you seen Kita and Riku by any chance?"

"No, why? I thought she left with you guys," Ti-Day said.

"Well, somewhere out there we lost track of her ship and now it's like they've disappeared entirely," Sora tried to explain.

Ti-Day looked worried. He hung his head again and grabbed his forehead. "More to worry about."

"Jack, do you think Ni-Ne was kidnapped?" Sally asked, also concerned about Ni-Ne's whereabouts.

"It's possible," Jack said. "And I think I know just who to ask."

"Who's that?" Donald asked.

"Oogie Boogie," Jack said looking mad.


	25. Slice and Dice

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Slice and Dice -Chapter 25

Jack and Ti-Day lead the group of everyone who had volunteered to help find Ni-Ne. Thankfully many of Halloween Town's inhabitants were willing to help find one of their own. After walking from town, through the graveyard and by the hooked hill, the group at last approached Oogie Boogie's lair. An old wooden bridge connected Oogie's tree house to the surrounding land. Below was a huge crater-like hole filled with fog from which the giant dead tree grew.

"This is it," Jack said as Sora, Ti-Day, Donald, Goofy and Hercules stepped up to the front to look at the tree house. "We have to get to the top to get inside." Just then many heartless appeared floating around the tree house. "And it looks like it's going to be a lot harder than we think."

"It's ok," Sora said. "That's why we all came together. Strength in numbers."

"What are we waiting for?" Donald said. "Charge!" With that everyone ran towards the bridge together with their pitchforks, clubs and scythes in hand. The heartless lined up to battle the approaching enemies.

"FIRE!" Ti-Day yelled shooting flames at the heartless. A good part of the front line of heartless was knocked out by his spell. The others were taken care of in hand-to-hand combat by the Halloween inhabitants. Ti-Day rushed forward through the group as they fought. He was more eager than anyone to get inside. Jack followed close behind.

"Thunder!" Sora shouted. Lightening rained from the sky and shocked three heartless at once. "Nobody messes with us!" He took off up the tree house hitting heartless left and right along the way. Donald and Goofy were still back behind him, but Hercules was keeping up.

"Hi ya! Take that!" Hercules said swinging his sword around. "We need to get to Ti-Day Sora. He's gonna need all the help he can get."

"Lets go," Sora said running to catch up to Ti-Day and Jack. There were less heartless ahead of the big battle where everyone else was. It didn't take long to catch up to Ti-Day and Jack who where only just reaching the top. "Didn't think you were going without us did ya?" Sora asked seeing Ti-Day and Jack.

"We have to move quickly," Ti-Day said. Jack pulled some doors open to a small room at the top of the tree house. Inside was a beat up couch, some broken shudders and a strange face with a large hole for a mouth that was surrounded by candles.

"That's the entrance," Jack said pointing to the creepy face on the wall. It looked like an Indian mask from where they were standing. Ti-Day ran over to it fearlessly. He looked at it for only a moment and then jumped in and slid down.

"Is he crazy?" Hercules said watching Ti-Day disappear.

"Well, we have to follow him now," Sora said stepping up next. He too lifted himself into the shoot and slid down.

"Coming?" Jack said looking at Hercules who couldn't believe Ti-Day and Sora.

"Yeah…" Hercules said sounding unenthused. He was a little unsure about sliding down a small shoot into some place where the bad guy was hiding. He looked at the shoot and examined its small size. Then forced himself into it and slid down. Jack followed close behind. At the bottom Sora and Ti-Day were waiting. The shoot emptied into a musty, dark room. There was no light anywhere, which made it hard to see how big the place was or where Ni-Ne could be. Hercules came out of the shoot and landed on his head. Jack merely stepped out as though he did this on a regular basis.

"Fire," Ti-Day said quietly. He produced a small flame on the end of his magic staff to light the room. Luckily objects in the room were close enough to reflect the light and some things were showing up. There were skeletons everywhere. Some bats flew around at the sight of the light. In the middle of the room was a crater-like pot in the floor.

"This place gives me the creeps," Hercules said nervously.

"Ni-Ne?" Ti-Day said hearing his voice echo around the chamber.

"Ooooh," a voice said laughing. It was gone as soon as it came.

"That didn't really sound like Ni-Ne," Sora said looking around for the source of the voice.

"Ti-Day… Ti-Day…" Ni-Ne's voice said softly.

"But that did!" Ti-Day said now running forward. He ran around the large pot in the center of the room looking for a door or passageway that would lead him to Ni-Ne. "Ni-Ne! It's me Ti-Day!"

Jack followed Ti-Day. "Oogie Boogie, if you're behind this, so help me I'll-,"

"You'll what now Jack?" said a terrifying voice behind him. A fire started in the pot in floor and a large bag-like man appeared holding onto a fan that was suspended above the pot. It was Oogie Boogie. "Nice of you all to drop in."

"Where's Ni-Ne you jerk!" Ti-Day said turning to Oogie.

"Don't worry about her," Oogie said looking really happy. "She's in good hands now. Maleficent is taking good care of her."

"Maleficent?" Hercules said. "Ni-Ne mentioned her once. She's one of the villains!"

"Oooh, I just love the smart ones," Oogie laughed. "Don't worry about her. You should really be worrying more about yourselves." With that, Oogie jumped up to a ledge at the top of the room leaving the guys stuck down in the bottom. Ti-Day ran towards the fan to climb it, but it moved before he could get there. The fan transformed into long sharp blades that slowly began to spin. Ti-Day backed away to avoid having his head cut off. The blades slowly lowered themselves and soon everyone realized the blades reached all the way out to the walls meaning they were all sure to be diced to bits.

"No!" Sora said running from a blade that was following him. He ran knowing that if he couldn't get away, he would be sliced in half. The same was true for the other three as they too were now running from the blades. "What are we gonna do!"

Jack cast a shield spell around all of them at once. The blades bounced off of the shield, but it wouldn't last forever. Ti-Day used the opportunity to leap towards the center again. He managed to make it above the blades, but he was spinning very fast holding onto the center rod. As Jack's spell wore away everyone started running again. Jack found a pattern and instead began jumping over the blades as they pasted him. Ti-Day managed to jump away from the blade fan and grabbed onto a wall.

"It's not gonna be that easy," Oogie said seeing that Ti-Day had successfully escaped the blender of death. A machine popped out of the wall next to him with three shooters pointing guns at Ti-Day. Oogie pulled a lever and like a slot machine, three like images appeared across the shooters' heads and they began shooting at Ti-Day. He had no choice but to let go and jump back into the hole. He landed on his back, which meant he didn't have enough time to get up before a blade reached him.

"Ahhh!" Ti-Day shouted as a blade sliced one of his legs. He was lucky it wasn't completely severed, but by the pain and blood, he had to have been cut at least halfway through. He got up to avoid being hit by the next blade. Hercules watched him struggling and knew if the blades weren't stopped soon, Ti-Day wouldn't stand a chance of making it out alive.

Hercules looked to the center of the blades at the rod in the middle. If he could just reach it, he might have been able to break the blades off. He started running with the blades and concentrating hard on the center. Then when he found the opportunity, he leapt towards the rod and latched on. He was sitting on two blades, spinning so fast that the room was merely a blur. He put his hand around one of the blades and started twisting it with all his strength. The blade bent and eventually tore off. He stuck the blade into the ground hoping it would catch the fan and slow the remaining blades down. It did. Then he reached for another blade and tore it off also planting it in the ground. Now only one blade was left, moving rather slow because of the friction from the other too bend up blades. Hercules kicked the last one off and finally there were no more blades left. He let go of the center rod and flew backwards into one of the walls. Some skeletons fell down on his head.

"Ti-Day, are you alright?" Sora said seeing Ti-Day as he bled. Jack ran over to help Ti-Day, he used a piece of Ti-Day's cape to wrap the wound.

"You broke my toy!" Oogie said sounding mad. "Looks like you don't know how to play fair." Oogie walked over to a control panel in the wall. He took a pair of dice in his hands and threw them into the hole where everyone was still stuck. The dice rolled and landed next to the four guys while they were still catching their breath. "Snake eyes!" Oogie shouted. That means I win!" The dice began to shake just before exploding. Everyone shielded themselves from the blast. Oogie pushed some buttons on the control panel and the flames in the center pot grew. Then he started throwing more dice into the hole, which were much bigger explosives.

"Watch out!" Sora shouted rolling away from the exploding dice. Hercules picked up Ti-Day so he wouldn't have to walk on his injured leg. Jack, Sora, and Hercules took off in different directions trying to keep moving so Oogie couldn't target them. "Thunder!" Sora shouted hitting Oogie right on.

"Ouch! Now that's just RUDE!" Oogie shouted throwing five dice at once at Sora. Five turned out to be too many to outrun at once and Sora ended up getting burnt. "Ahh!"

"Stop!" Someone shouted from above. Oogie was frozen in time, one of his dice in his hand.

"Huh?" Hercules said stopping. Ti-Day looked just as puzzled. Jack and Sora looked at each other.

"What made you think you could beat him without us?" Donald asked appearing in the corner of the hole where the shoot emptied. Goofy was with him.

"Donald, you have no idea what we just lived through," Hercules said. "Ti-Day got sliced and Sora just got burned."

"Yeah, yeah," Donald said. "Story time later, defeat the enemy now." Donald used a hover charm to fly up to the ledge where Oogie was now frozen. He picked up one of the dice explosives that Oogie had and threw it at him.

"Errrr," Oogie groaned. He couldn't move or do anything about it.

"You gonna help or what?" Donald said looking at everyone. Goofy, Jack and Hercules climbed up with him and started hurling the dice bombs at Oogie. Sora and Ti-Day just tried to avoid any misses. Because of the time spell, Oogie wasn't really taking a whole lot of damage. Ti-Day picked up his staff and cast a hover charm on Oogie lifting him off the ledge. He brought him down to the fire pit in the center of the room.

"Lets see him act tough now," Ti-Day said looking mad. Donald released the time spell and watched Oogie as he floated above the fire. "Ok Oogie, now you're the one in trouble, so talk… Where's Ni-Ne?"

Oogie was looking nervous as he dangled above the fiery pit. "I- I don't know," Oogie said trying to stay away from the flames. "Maleficent took her. She's not here anymore!"

Ti-Day looked absolutely pissed. He lowered Oogie to the point that the tips of the flames were touching him. "Where's Maleficent?"

"Ahhhhh! Oogie shouted, his straw bag body catching on fire. "I don't know! Please, let me go!"

"Not so fun when you're the one burning is it?" Sora said rubbing his own burns.

"Ahhhhh!" Oogie screamed. "Captain Hook knows! Find him, he'll tell you!" Ti-Day pulled Oogie away from the flames to ask another question.

"Where is Captain Hook?" Ti-Day asked, still angry.

"Neverland!" Oogie shouted feeling the burning pain as he body was slowly eaten away by fire. Ti-Day was still mad. It was Oogie's fault that Ni-Ne was nowhere to be found and now she was in some other world. Ti-Day released the spell right over the pit of fire and watched Oogie drop and burn.


	26. Another Day, Another Quest

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Another Day, Another Quest-Chapter 26

"Hey look! It's my world!" Hercules shouted from inside the Gummi Ship. Everyone looked out to see Olympus Coliseum floating by in space. "Donald, can we stop in? I haven't seen Phil in ages!"

"No way Hercules," Ti-Day said. "Ni-Ne's in trouble and Kita's still missing. We have to help them."

"Um, Riku's missing too," Sora cut in making note to everyone. "And Kairi, which you all seem to have forgotten."

Hercules and Ti-Day continued fighting as though Sora had never said a thing. "We won't be long," Hercules said. "You never know, maybe Kita's here. Huh?"

"Nope, her ship is not here," Donald said stating the fact.

"See, waste of time," Ti-Day said looking annoyed. "My girlfriends out there captured by villains. You can have tea with your satyr when she's safe and sound."

"Um, Kairi could be in much worse company for all we know," Sora continued quietly.

"Well, Phil's been here all alone for a while now. Since we're here, might as well make sure he's ok," Hercules said.

"I don't see how that's gonna help anything!" Ti-Day shouted.

"SHUT UP! Both of you!" Donald yelled. He yanked the ship down towards the world at a fast rate annoyed from listening to Ti-Day and Hercules bicker. "You two are worse than Kita and Riku."

"I doubt that," Goofy said thinking out loud.

"Ha!" Hercules said as the ship landed in Olympus Coliseum. Ti-Day merely gave Hercules a grumpy look resisting the urge to punch him in the face. They departed the ship in a hurry to get away from each other. Hercules dashed off to find Phil. Everyone else followed. They ran into the arena to greet an awkward sight. Phil was cowering in the center of the arena while several people were battling heartless around him. When at last they had destroyed the last few, Hercules ran to Phil and the rest of the group confronted the new comers. There was a man with semi-long spiky brown hair carrying a gun blade, a woman with long braided brown hair and another young woman with short black hair.

"Leon? Aerith? Yuffie?" Ti-Day asked recognizing them at once.

"Oh no. It's the prank kid," Leon said stepping back from Ti-Day.

"As tempting as that sounds, I've got more serious matters to attend to today," Ti-Day said smirking. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Looking for Cloud," Aerith explained. "Never imagined we'd find you here."

"Yeah really. It's a small universe after all," Yuffie said smiling. "What brings you to Olympus Coliseum?"

"We're 'visiting'," Ti-Day said giving Hercules a grim look.

Leon scanned the group with a confused look. "Where's Kita? I thought she was out here with you. At least that's what the King told us."

"Yeah…," Donald said. "We sorta lost her somewhere."

"Lost her?" Yuffie said looking shocked.

"She's the Princess of Hallow Bastion," Leon pointed out. "You really shouldn't go losing important persons such as her."

"It was an accident," Goofy said cowering in fear. "She was following us in her Gummi Ship and the next thing we know, she's not there anymore."

"Don't worry. We plan to find her along with Ni-Ne," Hercules said.

"Ni-Ne Nite?" Aerith asked. "Isn't she the one Ansem kidnapped at the Hallow Bastion Ball a long time ago? We had no idea she was also on your side."

"Yeah, King Mickey asked us to find her and bring her along," Ti-Day explained. "But… turns out she has this killer heartless inside of her and I think maybe the heartless finally won." Ti-Day trailed off looking lost in thought. "We were told that Captain Hook would know where she is, so that's our next stop. Why are you guys looking for Cloud here?"

"You know Cloud," Leon said. "Likes to travel all over the place. We've been stopping in all kinds of worlds."

"Well, you missed him," Phil spoke for the first time. "He was here ages ago, but I don't think he'll be coming back."

"You could have mentioned that before!" Yuffie said.

"No way! I can't fight those heartless on my own," Phil said. "They've been terrorizing me since Herc left."

"I'm sorry Phil," Hercules said. "We'll fix it!"

"I'll seal the world," Sora said holding up his Key Blade.

"You must be Sora, the Key Blade Master," Leon said eyeing the Key Blade. "I do hope these guys don't go and loose you next."

"Shut up Squall," Ti-Day said.

"Don't call me that," Leon said looking annoyed. "You have some friends to find so you'd better hurry."

Sora ran around the Coliseum looking for the keyhole until it finally revealed itself. He held up his Key Blade and locked the world for good. "There, Phil's safe and we can get back to rescuing." Sora rejoined the group and they readied to depart for Neverland.

"You have to find Kita," Leon told Ti-Day. "And maybe I don't know Ni-Ne, but after all this mess that Ansem's caused, I'm guessing she's better off out of the wrong hands too. Best of luck to you all."

"Thanks Leon," Ti-Day said getting back on the Gummi Ship.

"Phil, you gonna be ok now?" Hercules asked Phil as he was saying good-bye once more.

"Yep, I'll be ok," Phil said. "But don't be a stranger, I do get lonely sometimes. Beat that Ansem guy and hurry back so we can finish your training!"

"Oh joy," Hercules said thinking of how boring the training would seem after all the adventures he'd been on. "Well, take care Phil!" Hercules joined everyone else on the ship. Phil, Leon, Yuffie and Aerith stood outside waving the warriors good-bye as they took off to find their missing friends.

Kita was feeling much better after resting up. She was greeted by her mother when the sun rose in Atlantis. Riku was already up. "I do hope you're ready to get up now," Lollahec said carrying some breakfast into the bedroom.

"I think I'll make it," Kita said sitting up. "Where's Riku?" she asked noticing he was no longer in his place.

"A much earlier riser than you," Lollahec said with a smile. "Tell me, are you two an item."

"Not a chance!" Kita said looking repulsed. "He acts like he's two. Besides, I've got more important things to do than waste my time on boys."

"Oh I see," Lollahec said. "I doubt you'll feel that way forever."

"Please…" Kita said rolling her eyes. "They all act like kids. I can't stand it." Though the words coming out of her mouth sounded so true, she couldn't help but think about the times she'd blushed because of Riku. She wasn't about to admit to anyone, including herself, that she may have had a change of heart. She hastily took some breakfast from Lollahec's tray because she was starving.

"Kita, I have a favor to ask you," Lollahec said looking a little sad. "You see, the King wanted to have you banished or killed when you and Riku arrived, so to save you I told him that you could do something for him."

"Like?" Kita asked sounding nervous, wondering what she could possibly mean.

"His daughter, Princess Kidagakash, was kidnapped by the heartless," Lollahec explained. "Since we don't know where she is or how long it will take to find her, we can't go looking for her because leaving means dieing. No one who has ventured out has had any luck yet. Not only that, but the clock is already ticking for Kida's life because she is no longer here.


	27. Neverland

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Neverland-Chapter 27

After many hours of flying through space, Donald was able to track down Neverland. Because the world was a pirate ship, always in motion, it was hard to track it down. Ti-Day had been eagerly searching for the world out the windows the entire time, whereas Sora, Hercules and Pom-Pom fell asleep out of boredom. The crowded ship was hardly a joy to travel in. But everyone was more than excited to know Donald was now headed straight for a landing in Neverland.

The only place to land the Gummi Ship was on the top deck. The deck was looking rather abandon without a pirate in sight. "Strange, you'd think there would be at least one pirate out here," Donald said looking around suspiciously. Sora and Hercules were still trying to wake up as they stumbled around the deck. Sora stretched out his arms into the sky looking up as he did so. Something caught his eye. A shadowy figure flew over top of him through the sails.

"Huh?" Sora said staring at the sky.

"What? Did you see something?" Ti-Day asked looking anxious.

"Yeah," Sora answered. "At least I thought I did."

"FREEZE!" Ti-Day shouted hoping to hit something. If it was a heartless, they wouldn't want it to hang around and prevent them from finding Captain Hook.

"Ahhh!" said a voice in the sky. "That wasn't very nice."

"Who are you?" Sora shouted to nothing.

"Name's Pan. Peter Pan," a boy said suddenly appearing out of nowhere giving everyone a heart attack. His ears were a bit pointy and his hair was a reddish-brown. He was dressed in green rags and tights. "Are you pirates?"

"Nope," Goofy said. "We came to find Captain Hook so he could tell us where our friend is."

"That old codfish? I doubt he knows anything," Peter said laughing.

"What brings you here?" Sora asked. "You don't really look like a pirate either."

"Well you see, Hook thinks he can get away with capturing my friend Wendy, but he's got another thing coming. I came to rescue her," Peter explained.

"If we help you, will you take us to Hook?" Ti-Day asked. He was more worried than ever about Ni-Ne.

"Sure," Peter said. "They've trapped Wendy down below, so we'll have to make our way down there." Peter leapt off the ground and suddenly started flying. Everyone stopped in their tracks amazed that Peter could actually fly. "You guys comin?"

"How'd you do that?" Sora asked for everyone else who stood in pure wonder.

"It's easy," Peter said. "Just think a happy thought and add a little bit of pixie dust. Come over here Tink!" A little fairy flew onto the scene. She was glowing gold and seemed to sparkle. She flew a few circles around the group of warriors. Ti-Day immediately thought of finding Ni-Ne as his happy thought and was magically lifted off his feet. "There, you got it!" Peter said watching Ti-Day rise off the ground.

Sora thought hard about hanging out with Kairi and Riku on the beach of Destiny Island. He too lifted off the ground. Donald, Goofy and Hercules closed their eyes to think hard and rose off the deck as well. Pom-Pom floated around uncontrollably as he was always happy and energetic. He did a few circles around Tinker Bell thinking she was just some little float creature like he was. It took a moment for every to get the hang of moving, but soon they were all flying behind Peter as he lead the way to the entrance of the pirate ship.

"In here," Peter said landing beside an opening in the deck. He leapt in without hesitation while everyone else leapt in behind him one at a time. They were then inside the ship. Some doors were present, but they couldn't just open any one incase pirates were waiting on the other side. "Follow me, and stay quiet," Peter said flying slowly past the doors. He leaned against one with his ear to listen for anything on the other side. Just as he did, a swarm of heartless appeared to clutter the walkway.

"Oh no," Sora whispered. Trying to keep quiet was a lost cause as they were forced to battle the heartless to rid them. The clashing weapons were very loud, yet no pirates came to check what was going on. Peter proceeded to open the door he'd been listening through and ushered everyone in to abandon the heartless battle. Closing the door behind him, Peter and the others now found themselves in a storage room. There was a smaller door across the way that Peter flew for at once.

"Wendy? Are you in there?" Peter asked looking through a very small hole in the door.

"Peter! How did you ever find me down here?" a girl's voice sounded from the other side of the door. It was Wendy who had been captured by Captain Hook.

"Wendy? Who's that in there with you?" Peter said as he scanned the little room through the tiny hole.

"How bout just opening the door first?" said a familiar voice.

"Kita?" Hercules asked recognizing the voice. Without hesitation, Hercules marched right over to the door. "Stand back!" He punched the door in so that it busted right off of its hinges and fell to the floor in several pieces. He stepped inside to find Wendy who was cowering in fear joined by Kita and Riku who were merely leaning against the opposite wall expecting nothing less from Hercules than breaking down the door. "Kita!" he shouted walking over to her. He lifted her right off the ground and began to squeeze her in a tight hug.

"Help me…" Kita said sounding as though she were about to die.

"Um, Hercules, you might wanna let go now," Riku said watching Kita turn purple.

"I'm so sorry!" Hercules said putting Kita down. She fell backwards, but was caught by Riku before hitting the floor. "I just missed you I guess," Hercules said nervously. "Don't go disappearing on us again!"

"Kita? Where were you!" Ti-Day said leaping over the mound of broken door on the ground and entering the room. "Hey, your clothes are different."

"Yeah, it's a long story," Kita said looking as though she'd rather get out of the ship first. "We gotta get out of here ok cause the Captain isn't a really nice guy."

"He sorta captured us upon arrival. We were wondering if anyone was ever gonna show up," Riku said.

"Glad we found you guys finally," Sora said. "I was beginning to think you were gone for good."

"Didn't we promise we'd help to find Kairi?" Riku asked. "We can't go and leave you now."

"Then where were you two?" Hercules asked anticipated.

"Atlantis, ok. Can we go now!" Kita shouted. "I promise we can chat later so less talk more move!" Kita, Riku, Hercules, Sora, Ti-Day and Wendy finally all exited the tiny room. Peter scooped Wendy up in his arms looking like a real hero. Hercules looked over to Kita thinking the same thing. "Don't even think so," Kita said seeing Hercules and apparently able to read his thoughts as well. Everyone turned their attention back to sneak mode careful to keep quite as they had to sneak back to the deck.

"Where's your Gummi Ship Kita?" Donald asked realizing he hadn't seen it on the deck.

"The pirates destroyed it when they caught us," Kita said. "Can we hitch a ride with you?"

"Oh brother," Donald said thinking of how crowded the ship was already. As the group quickly rounded a corner, they were confronted by a swarm of heartless. "FIRE!" Donald shouted knocking a few of them out. As he did so, two pirates heads stuck out from one of the doors in the corridor.

"'Ay! Get um!" one of the pirates yelled pulling out his sword. They ran out into the corridor to prevent the warriors from passing. "Ow'd you get out 'a yer cell lady?" the pirate said standing in front of Kita.

"None of your business creep!" Kita shouted as she used her key blade to break the pirates leg.

"AHHHHH!" the pirate yelled. As he did so pirates started to flood out of all the doors.

"Crap," Ti-Day said eyeing them all. "We'll never get out of here." Peter with Wendy still in his arms flew over the mob of pirates and heartless.

"Just fly!" Peter said to Ti-Day as he passed by him. Ti-Day thought hard though it was difficult to think a happy thought at the moment. He started to lift off the ground. Donald, Goofy, Sora and Hercules caught on and did the same. Hercules who was closest to Kita and Riku at that moment grabbed one of each of their arms and lifted them off the ground with him. Pom-Pom flew off last after slapping a pirate square between the eyes with his tail. Everyone was now sailing back to the top deck and racing towards the Gummi Ship.

Ti-Day stopped in midair as everyone passed him. He looked back. He knew he still had something to do even if it was dangerous. He had to find Captain Hook. He screwed his eyes looking angry and gripped his magic staff tightly. "THUNDER!" he shouted. A rain of lightning came down over top the pirates as they all shouted in agony. The heartless were merely disappearing. "FIRE! FREEZE! THUNDER! OBLIDERATE!" There was a tremendous explosion causing the ship to blow up where the crowd of pirates stood. Everyone stared in shock as pieces of the ship slowly fell down into the ocean surrounding. Only traces of fire and dust remained.

"Ti-Day…" Kita said as she ran to where he was. Ti-Day was breathing hard, clearly fumed.

"I have to find Hook," Ti-Day said sounding rather angry. He took off in the direction of the explosion leaving Kita in place. Riku and Sora ran over to join her.

"Is he crazy?" Riku asked watching Ti-Day fly through the cloud of dust.

"Oogie Boogie told us that Hook would know where Ni-Ne is," Sora explained.

"Is she missing?" Kita asked sounding worried. "I thought she was just still back in Halloween Town…"

"We think she was kidnapped by that Maleficent character, but only Captain Hook knows where she is," Sora said looking at the spot where Ti-Day disappeared. "I wonder if Kairi's there too."

"This is crazy," Riku said. "Why is everyone getting kidnapped? Can't they just leave everyone alone?"


	28. Lost and Found

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Lost and Found-Chapter 28

Donald's Gummi Ship was far-gone by now. The place where it had previously stood was now swept by a cold gust of wind that marked the deserted area. Riku had reentered the broken ship. He walked through the corridors in search of the voice that called his name. Looking everywhere with no luck, he was lead to the remaining top floor where Captain Hook's headquarters was. Riku slowly approached the Captain's room unsure if the freeze spell Ti-Day had put on him was still in effect. The glowing lanterns inside revealed a shadow crossing the room.

Riku flew against a wall into a shadow in the hall to avoid being seen. There was a voice coming from the room. "Well, I see you've managed to fail in capturing the Key Blade Master," said a devilish woman's voice. There was a blast of light and suddenly Captain Hook was speaking again.

"It's not my fault!" Hook said sniffling from being frozen in ice. "Them brats travel together. The one had a poisonous attitude. He was looking for Miss Nite."

"Well, it's a shame he'll never get her back," the woman said. "Now that she has surrendered to the darkness within, she is an unstoppable creature of the night! And no little Warrior of Light is going to change that."

Riku had to muster all his courage to move and burst into the room to confront the enemies. He bolted away from the wall and stood fast in the doorway. A tall woman with green skin, dressed in raggy black clothes stood next to Captain Hook who was looking rather blue. "Ah, a stowaway," the woman said. "Riku isn't it?"

"How do you know my name?" Riku said sounding defensive and curious at the same time.

The tall woman laughed. She had horns growing out of her head and held a powerful staff in hand. Riku wasn't about to come any closer. "My boy I know who you are, why you are here and who you are looking for."

"Oh? Then tell me!" Riku said unbelievingly.

"Better yet, I'll show you," the woman said. She waved her staff over the ground in front of her. There was a dark cloud of mist and a body formed on the spot. It was a lifeless Kairi.

"Kairi!" Riku said stepping forward. He was still hesitant to run towards the woman, but he couldn't let her take Kairi away again.

"Judging by your reaction, I'd say I may have hit the nail on the head," the woman said. "Perhaps you've heard of me? I am the sorceress Maleficent."

"Yeah, I've heard of you," Riku said gritting his teeth. He was so focused on getting Kairi back, but how to do it?

"Where is your little friend Sora?" Maleficent asked. Riku didn't answer. He could tell she was just trying to get to him. "If he cares so much about Kairi, why isn't he here to save her? Why are you here alone? Didn't they want you with them anymore?"

"For your information, I volunteered to stay behind," Riku said. "Now hand over Kairi!"

"You don't really think I'm just going to give her to you do you?" Maleficent questioned. "You see I've been protecting Kairi from Ansem. It was I who rescued her from the darkness. How do I know you'll get her back home safely? And will you stay with her always to protect her? Are you strong enough to do that?"

"Yes! Now hand her over!" Riku shouted growing impatient.

"What about Sora, your best friend? He clearly doesn't care about either of you. I don't see him anywhere," Maleficent taunted. "Can you trust him to live on Destiny Island with you and Kairi and not turn on you?" Something was so entrancing about Maleficent's words. She was gazing into Riku's eyes as though trying to hypnotize him. Riku couldn't help but stare back as though no matter how hard he fought, the words were pouring into his brain. "You must destroy Sora. Protect Kairi. Keep her safe."

"He'll only try to take her away," Riku said. He looked at Kairi like a zombie. Maleficent turned to Hook to give him a sneaky look as though trying to intimidate him with her persuasive ways. Riku kneeled next to Kairi and touched her face. She was cold and lifeless. Her heart was nowhere to be found. "Kairi, I'll find your heart and give it back to you. I'll protect you from Sora and the others. We don't need them."

"I knew you were perfect for the job," Maleficent said. She took Riku's hand and helped him to stand. "You must come with me to Hallow Bastion. There I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams. And then, taking Sora down will be no problem at all." Riku nodded his head in agreement. "Are you coming?" Maleficent asked Hook who was lost in a blank stare.

"Alright, alright," Hook said standing up. Maleficent smiled and waved her staff. The dark mist surrounded them all and everybody in the room except unconscious Smee was swept away and disappeared.

Donald was pulling into Hallow Bastion a bit too slowly for Kita. Hercules and Ti-Day had to hold her back from jumping the controls and crashing the ship altogether. "Come on! She's down there, lets move!" Hallow Bastion was looking rather dark these days. All its inhabitants had abandoned it to escape the heartless. Donald decided to land a safe distance from the castle. There was a large canyon down below where the water from the surrounding ocean rose upwards from the bottom to the top. Inside were many flat stones, one of which Donald chose as the landing spot. As soon as the ship hit ground Kita leapt for the door and ran out first. She looked up at the awesome sight of the Hallow Bastion Castle above them.

"No…" Kita said softly falling to her knees. She looked as though she was on the verge of tears. There before the warriors was the once beautiful Hallow Bastion Castle. Most of its burn pink bricks were busted out and replaced with large bundles of copper pipes. Windows and doors alike were missing. A huge heartless symbol hung in plain view like a landmark on the front of the castle. Electrical bolts of lightening were constantly shooting out and traveling along the copper pipes. Worst of all, there was a dark aura fuming around it making it look possessed.

"Man, that's gotta be ten times worse than when we were last here," Hercules said gazing up. There was a glow coming from Sora's pocket as one of his summon gems started to activate on its own. A ghost image of a lion started to appear just before Simba materialized before them all.

"Man, I needed to stretch," Simba said yawning. "Hey, isn't this..?"

"Hallow Bastion," Ti-Day said looking up in the same shock as everyone else. "Well, at least it was."

Everyone stared at the castle in silence for a moment. However the silence was broken by a loud growl coming from above. "What was that?" Goofy asked.

"Not a lion," Simba said. He perked up his ears to listen more closely. The roar sounded again. "It's coming from the top of the highest peak up there."

"Go home, Belle's not going anywhere," said a boy's voice.

"Hey, that was-," Kita started to say upon hearing the voice.

"Riku!" Sora shouted. He took off to start climbing the mountain of stone up to the castle. The growls continued as everyone followed Sora up the mountain. The cold-wet breeze coming from the rising waterfalls was making it difficult to climb fast without slipping. After at least ten minutes of climbing, Sora reached the top. He pulled himself up only to find a large Beast lying on the ground. Riku was nowhere to be found. Ti-Day arrived next followed by Hercules and then Simba, Goofy, Donald, Pom-Pom and lastly Kita.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ti-Day asked approaching the Beast. The Beast moved slowly and struggled to stand. Goofy and Ti-Day each took an arm to help him up. "What happened? We heard someone else up here too."

"I came to find Belle and that punk stopped me," the Beast said.

"Doesn't really sound like something Riku would do," Sora said looking confused. "Did he have short white hair and a yellow shirt and blue pants?"

"You know that punk?" the Beast asked sounding a bit tense.

Sora looked a little afraid. "Well, yeah, he's sort of our friend."

"Who's Belle?" Kita asked still catching her breath from the climb.

"A girl I care about very much," the Beast answered. "I came to find her after she was taken away by those heartless. But that kid appeared out of no where and attacked me."

"Man, are we sure this is Riku you're talking about?" Sora asked. "He wouldn't do that. He's been helping us all this time. There's no way he'd turn against us."

"Well, maybe if we work together, we'll stand a chance getting inside," the Beast said. "Are you looking for someone too?"

"Actually we're looking for a bunch of people," Kita explained. "Some princesses, a girl named Kairi, our friend Ni-Ne who was only just separated from us a short time ago, and I would say Riku, but if he's gonna be like that maybe we should just leave him behind."

"Kita," Sora said looking appalled. "He's just as much my friend as you are. We're not leaving him here."

"Your loss," Kita said shrugging her shoulders. "Actually… if we do make it out of this alive and par say defeat my father, please do take Riku with you cause I don't want him in my town."

Ti-Day cracked a tiny smile but it didn't last long as he thought back to Ni-Ne who was still missing. He looked up at the castle pretending he had x-ray vision and could pinpoint her location. "I'm coming Ni-Ne." Kita stepped forward to what looked like a lift-stop in front of them. There was a beam of light that led up to the castle. Kita pulled a lever that would call the lift down to pick them up.

"Oh boy. I remember these things," Hercules said looking at the beam.

"Me too," Simba said eyeing the water below like it was dangerous. "What?" He said looking at Kita's dumbfounded expression. "Cats don't like oceans!" In no time at all the lift appeared through the mist rising off of the water's surface. Kita jumped on first and everyone else followed. Simba was looking more nervous than ever knowing the lift was probably past its weight limit.

"Do you think this is where all the princesses are?" Kita asked Ti-Day who still looked quite focused on the castle ahead.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised," Ti-Day said plainly.

"I feel so stupid," Kita said. "We were here before. What if some of the princesses were here then too?"

"Don't beat yourself up," Hercules suggested. "You can't blame yourself for all that's happened, but now's our chance to put it all to an end. I can feel it. We're closer now than ever before!"

"I hope your right about that," Sora said quietly. "I still can't believe that was Riku we heard before. How would he have beaten us here anyway? We left Neverland before him…"


	29. Dark Reflection

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Dark Reflection-Chapter 29

While Kita and her group began their assented from the dungeons, Ti-Day led his group forward deeper and deeper into the castle. They had to keep running to avoid being flattened by huge swarms of heartless. In what seemed like hours they finally reached a huge ballroom. The dark emptiness inside was eerie and ghostly.

"Man, this place looks terrible," Ti-Day said standing still looking all around the dusty, abandon ballroom. He looked at the dried up fountain in front of him. That had been the last place he and Kita stood in Hallow Bastion together before one of the dark holes swallowed him into darkness.

"Nice of you to come," said Riku's voice from behind them all.

"Riku!" Sora said spinning around to confront Riku. "What's going on? Did you really hurt the Beast out there?"

"Yeah, so what?" Riku said in a calm voice. "He's not needed here. But you on the other hand, are."

"Huh?" Sora said with a confused expression on his face. There was something about the tone of voice Riku was using that didn't seem right. "Riku, what are you saying?"

"I mean that you are needed here. So if you'll just follow me," Riku said turning to head up one of the staircases on the side of the room.

"We're not following orders from you traitor!" Ti-Day shouted. "What kind of friend beats up an ally?"

Riku turned to face the group once more, Ti-Day in particular. "Can't you see I am trying to help? For your information I found Kairi on Hook's ship when all of you left."

"Kairi?" Sora asked sounding shaky. "You found Kairi? Where is she now?"

"Why don't you just listen and follow me?" Riku said coldly. Sora took a step forward thinking no longer about Riku's sour attitude and headed for the stairway. Ti-Day however wasn't fooled. He grabbed Sora's hood on his jacket and caused him to fall to the floor.

"We're sticking together," Ti-Day said keeping his stare on Riku.

"Why are you making this difficult?" Riku asked sounding annoyed. He pulled the Soul Eater sword from his belt and pointed it at Ti-Day. "Don't make me come down there and take him by force."

"You want him? Come and fight me for him!" Ti-Day said holding his magic staff in front of him. Sora, Donald and Goofy stepped aside out of Riku's reach. Riku slowly walked back down the few stairs he had managed to climb to confront Ti-Day in battle. The look on his face was livid.

"Looks like I have no choice but to destroy you," Riku said.

"I can't believe this!" Donald said. "What's gotten into him?" Ti-Day and Riku circled each other like lions waiting to pounce one another. Riku took the first leap as he lifted Soul Eater high into the air and prepared to swing down on Ti-Day's head. Ti-Day merely lifted his staff to catch the sword and prevent Riku's swing from coming down. He was also able to push Riku away and land him flat on his back. Riku however was far from done. He rolled over and jumped to his feet again. He started circling more to get around Ti-Day's staff and was able to whack Ti-Day in the back.

"Ahhh!" Ti-Day shouted as he was forced to kneel in pain. Riku was ready to strike again and so Ti-Day, despite his pain turned his torso and swung his staff at Riku's legs knocking him over again. "Fire!" he shouted shooting fireballs at Riku.

"Errr," Riku said as his skin burnt. Though his skin had been singed, Riku got to his feet again right away as though nothing had happened. "Just because I can't use your kind of magic doesn't mean I don't have a power of my own." Riku was looking at Ti-Day with a dark aura in his eyes. For a moment it seemed as though his pupils disappeared for just a moment. Ti-Day backed away feeling that he wasn't just up against the Riku he knew.

"STOP!" Ti-Day shouted holding Riku frozen in time. Ti-Day got up off of the floor and stood holding his painful back.

"Ti-Day, we have to help you," Donald said rushing over to the fight scene. "He's not right."

"Thanks guys," Ti-Day said groaning. "There's definitely something wrong with him and I'm not just talking about his normal tough-guy attitude."

"You think this fight is over?" said Riku's voice from his frozen body. "I told you, I can fight against your magic." The time spell wore away slowly as Riku began to move again. He looked again as though nothing had happened to him. What was causing his new found immunity to magic? Sora ran up behind Riku feeling as though he'd had all he could take of this Riku. He lifted his Key Blade and swung down on Riku's head before he could turn around.

"AHHHH!" Riku shouted falling again. This time he looked as though he really had been hit. "Errrr, I knew you were a traitor Sora! Maleficent was right!"

"What!" Sora shouted. "Maleficent? She's one of the villains Riku. I thought you knew that."

"Yeah, she was protecting Kairi," Riku explained. "Where were you when I found her! You don't really care about her and you'll only try to take her away!"

"Riku… what are you talking about?" Sora said sadly. He couldn't believe the words coming out of his best friend's mouth.

"I promise, I'll be back to deal with you later," Riku said as a dark mist surrounded him and he disappeared.

"Come back you chicken!" Ti-Day shouted. His voice echoed around the ballroom. Riku was gone.

"Come on, we have to find Kairi," Sora said. "She must be here. And I'd say she's better off out of Riku's hands as well as the villains." Sora led the way up the staircase. Ti-Day directed them to the library doors on the second landing in the ballroom. They went inside.

Kita, Hercules, Simba and Beast were hastily moving into the lower levels of the castle. Kita was running fastest, leading the way as the others struggled to keep up. "Keep your eyes open for-," Kita stopped in mid-sentence as she also came to halt. They were now down where the labs Ansem had worked in where located. The door to one of labs was open. It was a large round room with metal walls. There was a large multi-colored sphere in the center with pipes sticking in it from every angle. A large computer ringed around the sphere where some pipes were emitting a dark cloud of something far from smoke. But what caught Kita's eye was Ni-Ne's figure sitting on the computer.

Ni-Ne's head was hung low. She was now wearing a different outfit much darker than the last. There were black marks all over her hands. Kita slowly walked toward the lab and entered it cautiously. "Ni-Ne? Are you alright?" Kita asked as she approached Ni-Ne. She stopped in front of Ni-Ne who still hadn't looked up. Kita noticed a blue bandage wrapped around Ni-Ne's arm where her tattoo was. "Ni-Ne?" Kita asked again. She put her hand on Ni-Ne's left shoulder.

"Ni-Ne is not here princess…" Ni-Ne said. Kita jerked her hand away from Ni-Ne and stepped back in shock. Ni-Ne looked up at Kita. Her eyes were a pail yellow and there were black stained tears around her glowing eyes. She lifted her right arm and removed the bandages from her left arm. There, black blood was smeared all around a deep wound where her heartless mark used to be. Her lips pulled into a devilish smile. Her eerie eyes narrowed and she began to laugh. Kita stood frozen in her place. She could feel a cold familiar presence coming from Ni-Ne that made her blood feel chilled. Somehow she found the courage to move again and slowly backed away.

"Don't back away from me Kita… I thought you were going to play with me." Ni-Ne stood up, black blood dripping from down her outfit and onto the floor making small pools of black tar-like goop. "Doesn't anyone want to play with me?" Ni-Ne asked as he scanned the group with her glowing yellow eyes. She pouted seeming disappointed. "Aww, no one wants to play? That's too bad." The black goop dripping from her began to collect and reversed direction by climbing up her legs. The look on her face grew angry. "That means I'll just have to destroy you by force!" Her whole body liquefied and she sank to the ground.

Kita took the opportunity to run for the door and escape, but she stopped by Beast to look back. The group watched in horror. Time seemed to stand still for a moment until Hercules shouted, "Kita! Look!" Kita's eyes were glued to the goop as it started to bubble. The goop started to rise and take form. It was the form of a woman's body. As the formation continued, the goop began to change to the color of pale skin. Very long hair that touched the ground sprouted from the head. Hands appeared as well as a black dress covering the body with a V-shaped cut over the breast. Lastly the haunting face that Kita had looked at once before. It was the woman from Wonderland.

Her eyes opened slowly revealing golden, yellow glowing eyes. Her lips were dark and she smirked evilly. She stretched her arms and arched her back as though crawling out of a tight space. "Ah, finally I'm free. Out of that old body. This feels so great!"

"Who are you and what have you done with Ni-Ne!" Kita shouted. The woman looked at Kita and began to move closer.

"My dear, I told you. The one you know is long gone now and I have this body all to myself." The woman answered.

"That doesn't explain who you are," Kita said staring the woman down angrily.

The woman backed away a bit. "I did say you would find out didn't I? I guess that means it's time for you to know. Well then… I'm the True Darkness. I am the Black goddess. I am the one who can make the world turn to chaos. I control the heartless. I am Ni-Ne's Dark half… My name is Siren."

"You witch!" Kita said stepping forward leaving her fear behind.

"Ah ah ah, looks can be deceiving Kita," Siren said shaking her pale boney finger. "You underestimate my power. As a heartless, not only can I take away your heart, but I can take away your life with one deadly kiss." Kita thought twice before taking another step. "Thought so," said Siren. "I believe I have some matters to attend to, but believe me, I will be back." Siren was engulfed by a dark mist and vanished from the spot.

"So does this mean that Ni-Ne's really gone?" Simba said sounding worried.

"No," Kita said. "I refuse to believe that Siren destroyed her." Kita was trying to sound positive, but there was sadness and doubt hidden in her tone. Nevertheless she was ready to fight on and find Ni-Ne, rescue Kairi and put an end to Siren and Ansem. "Let's go. We've got a score to settle." Kita led the group forward like troops into battle. "We've got to find Kairi at least. Mulan said she was here. Wherever that room is they keep taking the princesses to, I'll bet we find someone there responsible for this."

"Got any idea where we might start looking?" Hercules asked running along side Kita.

"Well, I know that just before things started getting really out of hand, my father closed the castle chapel," Kita explained. "But he kept going back to it. Like he was making something, or looking for something. I don't really know for sure. By this time, he didn't want anything to do with me. But I'll bet we find some answers there."

"Ok then, lead the way," Simba said. "I just hope it doesn't involve lifts."

"Don't worry, the only way to get there now is by lift," Kita said smiling.

"Crap," Simba said thinking of the dangerous heights hanging by streams of light."

"The entrance to the lifts is in the ballroom," Kita said. "We're getting close." After turning a few corners, the ballroom was in sight, but the heartless were one step ahead waiting for their arrival. Everyone drew weapons and prepared to fight their way to the lifts.

Meanwhile Ti-Day, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Pom-Pom had just escaped intense battle in the ballroom with Riku and were now safe in a neutral library. "Well, at least the heartless are staying out of here," Ti-Day said walking between tall shelves stuffed with books. "Man, this brings back memories," Ti-Day said looking around taking in the musty smell of the books. He stopped to look at a few of the story books he had once read when he was younger. There were stain-glass windows on the southern wall of the library. The colors of light coming through them were shining down on a wooden table under the staircase to the second level.

Ti-Day eyed the spot and felt entranced. He slowly walked over to the table and put his hand down on it to wipe away a thin layer of dust. "I remember sitting here once with Kita and some other kids from the town. There was a girl here I'd never seen before. She said she was a princess. No one believed her, but I did. She disappeared after that. It made me think that maybe she didn't even exist. But I still think that maybe she just ended up in another world."

"That's funny," Sora said. "Kairi didn't always live in our world. She just showed up one day all by herself. And strangely enough she couldn't even remember where she came from. And before we left Destiny Island I told her I'd help her find her home so she could know. That's why I have to rescue her, so we can find it!"

"What's Kairi like?" Ti-Day asked.

"She's really sweet, kinda funny sometimes too," Sora explained. "I might have had a crush on her." Sora's cheeks began to turn red.

"Is she pretty?" Donald asked joining in on cornering Sora.

"Well, yeah!" Sora said shyly. "She has short red hair and blue eyes just like mine. And her smile is so innocent. She always stands with her toes pointing each other like she's and innocent little angel." Sora was getting caught up thinking of Kairi. He looked up at Ti-Day who looked extremely lost in a far away thought. "Ti-Day?"

"Did Kairi ever tell you she was a princess?" Ti-Day asked smiling.

"No," Sora said looking confused. "Why?"

"Because I'm sure we're talking about the same girl," Ti-Day said confidently. There was no more time to waste standing around. As far as Ti-Day could see everyone had caught their breath and was ready to go again. He took off to ascend the staircase before them. Sora looked caught off guard and kept begging Ti-Day to continue telling him about Kairi before her Destiny Island days. But Ti-Day was now very focused on getting to their destination, wherever Ni-Ne or Kairi could be.


	30. Heartless In The Night

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Heartless in the Night-Chapter 30

_Where am I? Why is it so dark? Kita? Ti-Day? Sora? Anybody! Hello! Can someone hear me! Anybody!_

"Step aside!" Beast roared as he lashed forward and sliced four heartless at once. Behind him, Hercules was spinning in circles striking every heartless who came within three feet of him. Kita had chosen to use her Atlantian keychain on her key blade to ensure a strong reach of her blade to knock out heartless. Simba was slashing heartless left and right as he circled the room trying to clear the stairwells. Kita was well aware of which direction she was moving and so kept one eye on the entrance to the lifts at all time.

Because the stairs had become heartless waterfalls, they had no choice but to back into the dried up fountain in the center of the ballroom. They would need to climb it to reach the second level and just plow their way to the lifts from there. "Move towards the fountain!" Kita commanded. She was now back to back with Hercules as they moved together in the fountain's general direction. Beast wasn't having any trouble moving forward because he was so much larger than most of the heartless anyway. Simba continued running circles around the room, up and down the stairs destroying everything in sight.

Kita bumped into the fountain first. Hercules moved behind her to stop the heartless from snagging her as she began to climb the fountain. When Beast backed into the fountain, Hercules began to climb. Beast was able to jump up without climbing because of his height and Simba just stopped running on the second level after climbing the stairs for the umpteenth time. "Come on, it's right here!" Kita said ducking down and running forward hurriedly. Hercules did the same and so did Beast and Simba to round up the group. They were directed straight through a small door that emptied into a large cylindrical stone room full of lifts that opened up to the sky. Kita ushered everyone onto the first lift in site and took off as soon as Simba landed on the lift making it sway. The heartless were left jumping up and down trying hard to reach out to the escaping warriors.

"Oh man, I thought we weren't going to make it," Hercules said breathing hard. "The heartless here really are terrible."

"I don't care how bad they are, I'm not going home till I have Belle safe with me," Beast said also huffing and puffing.

"Don't worry, she's not in as much danger as the other princesses," Kita explained. "Course now I'm a little more worried about Ni-Ne." Everyone was silent. The slow lift rides were always awkward times to have conversations. "Well, get comfy cause it's gonna be a while before we get there." Kita explained.

Riku walked up a flight of steps to meet a tall man with long white flowing hair at the top. The man was looking at a huge glowing hole in the wall in the shape of the heartless symbol that was casting green, red and blue light all over the room. Below them were seven capsule chambers, only one being occupied at the current time. As Riku reached the top platform where several machines and pipes were also located, a dark mist appeared and Maleficent stepped out of it.

"Well?" Maleficent questioned Riku as he stopped in front of her. The man with white hair was still facing the hole.

"He attacked me from the back with the Key Blade," Riku explained. "The power you gave me wasn't enough to stand against him."

"Pity, I thought you were strong and wouldn't need it anyway," Maleficent said. "But if I must give you more than so be it. Do not fail again." Maleficent raised her staff above her head and prepared to send dark magic upon Riku. However, she was cut off. The man with white hair turned to face both of them.

"Perhaps you need the 'true' power of darkness," the man said. His voice was cold and deep. His eyes glowed of bright orange like fire. "Darkness is the heart's true essence, and only when you submit to the darkness can you fully posses it's true power." Riku watch the man as he stood before him, arms folded. "Surrender to the darkness."

Riku closed his eyes and thought hard about darkness. He lifted his arms and felt the dark powers surrounding him. An aura of black and purple smoke surrounded him and almost lifted him off his feet. For a moment he was completely surrounded by the dark cloud of smoke, but when it cleared, Riku was wearing something different. It was as though his closed had meshed with his skin and he was nothing but dark blue muscle with red hands. A white, torn rag wrapped around his waist. The heartless symbol appeared on his chest. His eyes no longer had pupils. Riku was something of a dummy now. He was heartless. A devilish grin appeared on his face as he took a deep breath and looked up at the man with his empty eyes.

"Much better," the man said smiling in approval. Maleficent looked disappointed that she hadn't given him this newfound power of darkness. But Riku looked rather satisfied with the change. "And please, take this with you." The man handed Riku a key blade. It was black and sharp at the end with a dark red handle.

"Thank you Ansem," Riku said bowing his head. Riku was surrounded by the dark mist and disappeared again from the spot.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Maleficent said, still sounding angered.

"It is you who has not fully accepted the power of darkness," Ansem said. "I suggest you do so as Riku and Siren have. Now go and brake the warriors in half." Maleficent looked even more annoyed being given orders, but she disappeared anyway. Ansem left his spot from starring at the large colorful hole and instead transported himself to his bedroom chambers.

Inside, he quickly made his way to his bed, took off his coat and laid in on the bed, pulling the covers over himself. But upon closing his eyes he heard his door creek. He looked up in the dark room to see a woman's figure coming towards the bed. A pale hand reached out and slowly the woman climbed onto the end of Ansem's bed. "And what are you doing in here?" Ansem asked.

"You looked like you needed a good night 'kiss'," Siren said crawling closer to Ansem.

"No thanks," Ansem said laying his head back down pretending Siren wasn't there.

"You break my heart Ansem," Siren said pouting.

"You don't even have one," Ansem said sounding a bit annoyed.

"Neither do you," Siren said inching ever closer. She held her body over Ansem and looked down at him, her hair draping down over both of them. "Come on, just one kiss?"

"I am a married man you know," Ansem said looking into Siren's devilish yellow eyes.

"Please… you're not fooling anyone," Siren said laughing. "Kita's the only one who believes you. Besides, you treat her like crap anyway. Didn't you try to kill her once?"

"I think we both know it's a good thing I didn't succeed," Ansem said. "But what bothers me is the fact that you didn't bring her with you."

"And miss out on my chance to have a little fun with you?" Siren said. "You're not much of a romantic."

"I told you already," Ansem said looking mad. But before he could say another word, Siren planted her lips on Ansem, her tongue swimming through his mouth. Ansem didn't even try to fight her off. Instead her embraced her tightly and became more aggressive in his kissing. They began tossing around, entwined in the sheets. Ansem grabbed Sirens hands and prevented her from moving. Siren was beginning to struggle and tried to escape, but couldn't. When Ansem began kissing her neck instead, Siren took the opportunity to kick her leg up and shove Ansem off of her.

He looked at Siren with his fiery eyes, seeming disappointed. Siren teleported herself from the bed to the chamber door. She stood with her arms folded looking insulted. Ansem looked at his hands to see that they were covered in black stains. "Hmm, I thought you wanted to play."

"You're a sick bastard is what you are," Siren said. She turned without another glance at him and left the room.

"Fooling around are we?" Maleficent's voice spoke from the hallway. Siren looked up and saw the old witch standing in the way clearly waiting to catch Siren in the act.

"None of your business hag," Siren said pushing her way through.

"Who are you calling a hag?" Maleficent said snapping on Siren. There was an intense anger burning in her eyes.

"You, or are you deaf?" Siren said, not even flinching.

"Don't you dare disrespect me you whore!" Maleficent shouted. Siren was definitely mad this time. She slapped Maleficent so hard it caused her to stumble backwards into the wall.

"Watch that pitiful mouth of yours before I rip it right off your face," Siren said now infuriated. Maleficent started to growl like a wolf ready to attack. She lifted her staff to cast a spell on Siren, but Siren deflected it back before the spell even touched her. Maleficent doubled over and held onto her staff for support.

"You think you've won?" Maleficent asked. "This is far from over." Maleficent was slowly surrounded by purple clouds that seemed to grow larger and larger. Siren watched unimpressed. As the clouds cleared away, a dragon remained where Maleficent previously stood. It growled and blew fire threateningly. Siren merely snapped her fingers causing a swarm of heartless to appear around the dragon. The heartless began attacking the dragon as the dragon blew green fire back at them, but the dragon was seriously out numbered. Slowly the dragon gave up, unable to battle any longer. That was when Siren walked right up to the dragon and looked it in the eyes.

"You lose," Siren said. She thrust her arm right through the dragon's chest causing it to roar loudly. Through the blood, Siren pulled the dragon's heart out holding it in her hand. "Game over." Siren squeezed the heart until it burst and blood shot out everywhere. The dragon shrank and collapsed into only a heap of black clothes. It was all that remained of Maleficent. "Hag," Siren said walking away from the spot. She threw the bloody heart remains to the ground.

"Finally!" Simba shouted, happy to see that the lift riding had finally ended. Now many floors up in the castle, Kita and her group departed the lift and entered the castle chapel. Kita opened the door and peaked inside expecting something to jump out at her. After seeing that the coast was clear, she pulled the door open and allowed the others to join her entering.

The chapel was very dark. Kita had once remembered it having windows, but now some king of stone alter and a huge heartless symbol headed the chapel at the end of the entrance isle. The group slowly made their way down a dark green carpet entering the round part of the chapel. Kita lowered her weapon to look up at the heartless symbol that was mounted high above their heads. Other than that, she didn't notice any other doors or anything in the room to suggest that Ansem was using it.

"Well, it was a start," Hercules said leaning again one of the walls. But as he did so, the wall that appeared to be solid brick disappeared entirely and Hercules fell through it. "Oof!" He shouted hitting the cold hard ground.

"What's this?" Kita said running over to investigate. Kita looked inside. It was very dark and without magic, they wouldn't be able to light it up and take a better look. Kita decided she was just going to walk through no matter what was waiting for her on the other side.

"Are you nuts?" Hercules asked watching Kita go. "You don't have any idea what's back there."

"What if it's where he's hiding?" Kita asked. "The wall isn't invisible for nothing."

"But, it's dangerous!" Simba said. "Should we try to find the others first?"

"Are you saying you want to go through all those lifts again?" Kita asked looking as though she had this fight already won. Simba looked defeated thinking he'd rather go through the doorway than ride the lifts again no matter what the cost.

"Don't worry. I promised Belle I'd be here to help you," Beast said looking as though he was ready to go through.

"Then it's settled," Kita said and she began to lead the way through the dark passageway.

It didn't take long to arrive at a dimly lit room. The room was very tall with two levels. The first part of the room contained cauldrons burning dim blue flames. Behind the cauldrons were capsule chambers with small blue lights inside revealing the fact that they were empty. But in the center was a clear coffin with a body inside. "Is that?"

"Kairi," said Riku's voice from the shadows. Kita about had a heart attack hearing his voice so suddenly. She fell forward through the doorway and grabbed her chest. Hercules made to move forward and help her up, but some kind of invisible force field was preventing him from getting through.

"Hey! What's the big deal!" Hercules shouted loosing his temper with Riku.

"Riku, don't scare me like that," Kita said getting up off the floor. She slowly rose from the floor and looked up at him. But as she did, she noticed he didn't look the same. His clothes were different now and the look on his face was scary. "Riku?" Kita asked feeling worried.

"Nice of you to drop in princess," Riku said staring at Kita.

"Huh?" Kita asked confused. "You've never called me that."

"But it's what you are," Riku said moving forward slowly. "And a pretty important one too."

"What do you mean?" Kita asked trying to stay a safe distance from Riku.

"Seven hearts, one door," Riku said as though he had just strayed off into some other conversation. "Six found, and now seven."

"Kairi? Is she the princess?" Kita asked looking at Kairi behind Riku figuring that was the only reason they were holding her.

"That's what they thought, but now they really know," Riku said. "And lucky me, I get to bring her to them."

"What?" Kita said, her voice becoming shaky.

"You Kita are the seventh Princess of Heart," Riku said looking straight into her eyes. Kita's eyes shot open and she stepped back realizing that he could possibly be right. She was Riku's prey now. He had come to collect her. "I thought we were friends Kita." Riku said looking disappointed that Kita was backing away.

"No…" Kita said. "You're not Riku. You can't be."

"Yes I am," Riku said. "And I'm hurt that you don't even believe me." Riku made a sad face. But his expression quickly changed to anger. "So are you coming with me or do I have to force you to?"

Kita stared at him thinking that both options were not to her liking and she would rather just run away. But Riku grabbed her with his dark force and kept her from moving. He forced her to stand in a battle stance before him. "Fight me!" Riku shouted as Kita breathed hard holding her key blade tightly. "Fight for your freedom."

"Please don't make me do this," Kita said, tears beginning to run down her face. Riku held out his new black key blade and prepared to fight. The look in his eyes was pure evil. He was dead serious about this, and Kita knew it. Hercules and Simba were shouting through the force field unable to get in.

"Ready?" Riku asked, not really asking for an opinion.

"No… please," Kita said, the tears drenching her face. But without another thought Riku charged forward at Kita, his blade pointing directly at her. The dark force had released Kita's body. But instead of running, she dropped her key blade just before Riku reached her. She closed her eyes and then Riku's key blade pierced her chest. "AHHHHH!" she screamed in agony. Hercules, Simba, and Beast shouted watching Kita slowly fall to the floor. A bright pink heart rose from her chest and into the air. Riku caught it in his hand looking like a pirate who had finally found his prized treasure.

"Thank you princess," he said victoriously. "Now my dear… welcome to the darkness." Hercules, Simba and Beast watched Kita closely from behind the force field. Though Kita looked as though she had just been killed, her eyes slowly opened to reveal nothing but black sockets. She looked like a zombie as she stood up and stared at Riku with her empty black eyes. Riku smiled and led her away carrying her heart in his hand and leaving Hercules, Simba and Beast trapped at the door.


	31. Fight To The Death

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Fight To The Death-Chapter 31

"Come on, we need to keep moving," Ti-Day instructed. Sora still persisted in asking about Kairi despite the fact Ti-Day had no intent on losing focus on finding her and Ni-Ne instead of just talking about them. Ti-Day was busy leading his group along some ledges on the outside of the castle. Fighting heartless was difficult due to the fact that one missed swing could mean falling over the edge.

"Ti-Day!" Leon shouted from a level below. Leon was clearly visible one ledge below Ti-Day and his group. He had his gun blade in hand as though expecting danger. "Where's Kita?"

"We split up," Ti-Day said. "She started down below. What are you doing here?"

"This is my home," Leon said. "I came to defend it. When was the last time you saw Kita?"

"When we got here," Ti-Day informed him.

"I caught a glimpse of her heading up to the chapel. You should get up there cause I haven't seen her since. I'm afraid that may be where Ansem is," Leon said sounding worried.

"We're on it!" Ti-Day said making his move to head north. "Oh, and Leon, if you see Riku, just know that he's not himself."

"Haven't seen him," Leon said. "Get going. Kita could be in trouble." He turned and ran in the opposite direction. Ti-Day hastily made way for the nearest lift stop he could find to head for the castle chapel.

"What if Riku's up there?" Goofy asked.

"Then Kita is definitely in trouble," Ti-Day said arriving at a lift. He and the others jumped on and began the slow accent.

Meanwhile, in the secret room behind the castle chapel, Hercules, Simba and Beast were forced to retreat before being caught to attempt finding another way in. Kita, now heartless was left with Riku, Ansem and Siren in the mysterious room. Kita had been given new clothes. She wore a torn cloth skirt that resembled Riku's, a tight black top with a heartless symbol on her chest and black ropes wrapped around her arms and legs. On her back, a dark blue growth was forming. It was as though the darkness was eating her slowly. She stood with Riku before Ansem as he continued in his examination of the dark hole in the wall.

"Shall I bring the other princesses now?" Siren asked sounding excited.

"Yes," Ansem confirmed. "It is time to open the gate to the darkness." Siren disappeared in an aura of dark mist. Ansem turned to Riku and Kita who looked like soldiers standing before him, waiting for orders. "You will have to stop anyone who interferes." Ansem looked at Kita's shining heart that was now incased in a glass jar. Her heart had been forcefully taken as one of the Princesses of Heart. It was only a matter of time now before the other princesses would arrive and the door to darkness could be opened.

Kita was staring forward in a blank stare. As a heartless she looked even angrier than when she was just mad. Ansem turned to her and grabbed her face. "Isn't this better?" he asked. "You should have joined me long ago." Kita jerked her head away, her angry eyes narrowing even more. Ansem laughed and turned his attention back to the dark hole. Siren returned down below where the capsules were located. Riku and Kita walked down to join her. A fleet of heartless was also present holding the princesses captive.

"NO!" Ariel yelled seeing heartless Kita descending the small set of stairs.

"Get in your capsule!" Kita shouted. As she held up her hand, Ariel flew backwards and landed forcefully in one of the capsules and had the wind knocked out of her. "That goes for the rest of you…" Kita said threatening the other princesses who now looked nervous and gave up fighting the heartless and willingly entered their capsules. Riku smiled as though he was turned on by Kita's forceful attitude.

"Kita? What happened?" Princess Kidagakash asked as her capsule door began to shut. A tear rolled down her cheek. The last princess had been found and now there was nothing that could be done to stop Ansem from succeeding in his plans. Siren was looking at Kita approvingly. She seemed impressed by Kita's powers and the force she used for the good of evil.

Siren turned to head back up the stairs to join Ansem. '_Kita, you fool… you'll be the downfall of your father. I'll make sure he never succeeds… I will take over. He will never win._' Siren stood on the platform where the dark hole was. She stood to the side near some of the copper pipes. Ansem was leaning over some of the machines watching Kita inspect the capsules. Riku was doing the same. Ansem turned to Kita's heart in the glass jar.

Just then, Ti-Day and his group arrived in the castle chapel. They were running as fast as they could and soon spotted the open tunnel in the wall. However they noticed a hole in the wall beside that in which the stones had been smashed away. Ti-Day ran towards the smashed hole. "Kita?" he called out checking to see if she was inside.

"Ti-Day?" came Hercules's voice echoing back through the hole. "Ti-Day! We need your help! Kita's been turned into a heartless!"

"What!" Ti-Day asked in shock. "How do you know?"

"We saw Riku stab her," Simba said sounding anxious. "He made a force field in front of the door so we couldn't get in, so now we're going around."

"Come on guys, we're almost through," Hercules said chucking stones out of the tunnel. Ti-Day stepped into the narrow tunnel and was followed by Donald, but before Goofy or Sora could enter, Sora started to think out loud.

"Kita's a Heartless?" Sora asked nervously.

"Right you are Sora..." Siren said appearing next to him, smirking. He jumped and stood next to the others.

"Who are you!" Sora asked with his Key Blade pointed right at her.

"Name's Siren Key Blade Master," she said almost striking a pose to introduce herself. "I'm that lovely friend of yours who lived in Ni-Ne, but as you can see, I call the shots now."

"What!" Ti-Day said storming back out of the small tunnel. "What did you do to Ni-Ne! Cause if you hurt her, I'll destroy you one piece at a time!"

"Awww... Ti-Day, I saved your life and this is how you repay me... What a bad boy. Although, I do love a bad boy."

"Back off woman," Ti-Day said holding his staff threateningly in her face. "What did you do to Ni-Ne?"

"Oh, don't worry about her," Siren said. "I'll take good care of her. It's Kita you should worry about, I believe she's had a change of heart… literally." Ti-Day was gritting his teeth. Talking to Siren was useless. She wasn't going to help him, or tell him what happened to Ni-Ne, but Kita was just inside the room on the other side of the wall and he couldn't just forget about her. "Fire Dragon, burn her!" Ti-Day shouted casting a spell from his staff. A huge swarm of fire shot out at Siren and went right through her.

"AHH!" Siren screamed falling backwards. It was enough time for Ti-Day, Sora, Goofy and the others to get into the hole. Ti-Day quickly put the bricks back in the wall as Hercules dug through the other end.

Siren sat up slowly feeling truly pissed off. A hole in her stomach slowly healed back together as she looked to the spot where the warriors had disappeared. "You honestly think you can escape me?" Siren said pouting. "It's too bad that Kita will murder you once you step into that room." Siren laughed and disappeared in a dark mist.

"We're through," Hercules said as he pulled the last few bricks aside. The hole was still to small for all of them to squeeze through, but they could see into the room now. What they saw didn't look good. In the center of the room Ansem, Kita and Riku stood by Kairi who was encased in a glass coffin. Kita was holding a heart in a glass jar. Six princesses were trapped unconscious inside capsules on both sides of the room.

"What's going on?" Sora asked looking onto the scene.

"Ansem, there in the middle. He's using the princesses to open the Door to Darkness," Ti-Day explained. "We read about it a long time ago, when King Mickey told us to find information on Ansem's plans. Looks like he's about to succeed."

"Then let's stop him!" Sora said running forward. He busted out of the wall and ran straight for the coffin with Kairi inside it. "Kairi!" Sora shouted as he lifted his Key Blade. Ansem, Riku and Kita turned around to see Sora running towards them madly. Kita merely lifted her arm and held Sora in a binding grip with her heartless powers. "AHH!" Sora shouted slamming into a halt.

"Sora!" Donald shouted coming through the wall followed by Goofy.

"Well, guess hiding here is kinda pointless now," Ti-Day said shrugging his shoulders and stepping out.

"You…" Riku said spotting Ti-Day. "We're busy so get lost!"

"Oh yeah, think I give a crap?" Ti-Day said marching forward. As far as he was concerned, Riku was long gone, so he was the enemy because of what he did to Kita.

Ansem hastily grabbed the glass jar with the heart in it from Kita. Kita looked angry about it. "Destroy them," Ansem commanded her. Kita turned her attention instead to the warriors. She still had Sora in a tight grip. Hercules looked at Sora who was now turning purple from a lost of air. He ran behind Kita and cut her with his sword.

"Sorry bout that," Hercules told her as she grabbed her back in pain. Sora dropped to the floor and ran for it. Kita was quick to recover and started chasing Hercules. She pulled out her key blade which now had a different form. It was the same design as Riku's key blade, but still silver like it always had been. She was quick on her feet and started swinging madly at Hercules who realized he had underestimated heartless Kita's fighting power.

"ROAR!" Beast shouted as he intervened. He scratched Kita down her back and made her fall flat on her face. Beast had sliced right through the blue fungus on her back. Black blood began oozing out as she groaned in pain.

"You'll pay for that!" she shrieked as she lifted her arm and used great force to shove Beast into the wall. He hit the wall between two of the princesses so hard that the wall cracked and he was knocked out.

"Stop it Kita! We're your friends! Don't you remember us?" Simba asked.

"You are no friends of mine," Kita said coldly. She mimed in the air picking up Simba with her hands and squeezed hard. Unfortunately for Simba what she was miming came true. He was lifted up into the air and squeezed so hard, many bones in his body cracked under pressure. He roared loudly as he was tortured. Hercules was frozen unable to believe his eyes. Kita opened her hands after a while and Simba dropped from midair limply and slammed onto the floor. He wasn't moving anymore.

"NO!" Hercules said running over to Simba. He feared that no lion could have lived through what Kita had just done. Donald ran over and splashed some potion into Simba's mouth.

"Put him aside somewhere," Donald said. "He'll die if he keeps fighting!" Hercules carefully picked up Simba and moved him to a corner where he'd be out of the way of battle. He then rejoined the battle. Riku seemed to have chosen Ti-Day as his only opponent. They were fighting intensely one on one on the stairs that lead to the higher landing in the two-story room.

"Riku… Stop!" Ti-Day shouted. Though 'stop' was one of Ti-Day's spells, nothing happened to Riku. He continued pounding back.

"Your magic won't work on me at all now," Riku explained. "I've become one with the darkness and it protects me from your foolish attempts to hurt me."


	32. Key Of Light

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Key Of Light-Chapter 32

Kita lifted herself weakly off the floor and ran as fast as she could to Ti-Day's lifeless body on the stairs. His head was two stairs lower than the rest of his body that was now sprawled out where Siren had dropped him. Kita stumbled to him and immediately put her head on his chest. No more could a heartbeat be found. Hercules walked over to the spot unable to believe that Ti-Day could be dead.

"Ti-Day… come back," Kita cried. Her tears were landing on his face as she held his head hoping he would just open his eyes. He grew colder and colder with each passing second. Hercules watched Kita grieve unable to find comforting words to say. "He was my best friend… why did she take him away?"

"Sora, you can't win! Face it!" came Riku's voice from above. This entire time, Sora and Riku were still duking it out as they were the only ones left beside Hercules and Kita down below.

"No!" Sora fought back. "Maybe I'm just one person, but I'll never let you win! I have to save Kairi!"

"Kairi!" Hercules said. "I should go make sure she's still there!" Hercules darted off towards the little hole in the wall where he hid Kairi when Riku was preoccupied. Kita looked down at Ti-Day. She laid him evenly across one step and then decided it would be best if she moved on to help Sora. Heartless Riku had to be stopped before anyone else was hurt. She ran back to get her key blade. As she picked it up she looked at the heartless symbol keychain. She tore it off instantly out of spite. Hercules reentered the room with Kairi in his arms.

"Keep her a safe distance for now," Kita instructed. "We've got a pest to take care of." Hercules laid Kairi down next to Simba, Donald, Goofy, Pom-Pom and Beast. He then drew his sword ready to head into battle with Kita as they ascended the stairs to join Sora. Upon seeing Sora, they realized he was very tired from battling Riku all this time. Kita thought it miraculous he had lasted till now.

Riku locked key blades with Sora and then kicked Sora's legs out from under him. Sora rolled out of the way quickly, but he was becoming disoriented from fighting so long without a breather. He was finding it difficult to stand up. "Give up yet?" Riku asked looking stronger than ever. He raised his key blade, but before he could strike, he was interrupted.

"HEY! PEEBRAIN!" Kita shouted from behind Riku. Riku turned to see Kita standing behind him. Her eyes were no longer empty and black. Riku turned to the glass jar that was sitting on one of the machines. Kita's heart was missing. "That's right… I'm back and you're gonna wish you were never born!" Kita ran forward to strike, as did Hercules from the other side. Attacking together, Riku was unprepared as he was knocked to the ground. Sora recovered to join in the surprise attack. However, Riku's dark powers were very strong. He flung all three of them off and stood up.

"I'm beginning to lose my patience with you," Riku said. He looked at Kita specifically. "Return to the darkness my princesses." Riku ran towards Kita who was on the ground. She stared up horrified feeling she was about to make another trip to the darkness. However Riku was stopped. Sora had run in the way and blocked his attack.

"You're not gonna hurt my friend!" Sora shouted. Riku looked angry and pulled back. Kita took the opportunity to lift her key blade and shoved it through Riku's chest.

"What goes around comes around!" she yelled as she watched her key blade sink into Riku's chest. He looked like he was in pain as he staggered backwards. Sora, Kita and Hercules watched as he fell to the ground. Light was bursting from the hole where the key blade had entered. Riku looked as though he was dieing slowly. He was struggling to breath and his body was seizing up. He dropped his key blade next to him.

"No! This can't be! Darkness is the only true power!" Riku shouted as he slowed down. Kita watched him as his eyes closed. He then disintegrated into thin air. Kita's key blade fell with a clunk to the ground when Riku was completely gone.

"What just happened?" Hercules asked staring at the spot where Riku had just been.

"I don't know," Kita said also looking confused. "It's just that he did it to me, so I did it back."

"Riku's key blade unlocks the darkness in someone's heart," Sora began to explain. "Maybe yours does the exact opposite. Your key unlocks the light."

Kita picked up her key blade looking at it and trying to figure it out. "King Mickey did say it had a secret power, but only I could discover it. Maybe my will feeds its strength or something."

"Question is what do we do with Riku's key blade?" Sora said looking back to the black key blade lying on the ground.

"_Set me free Sora_," said a gentle voice.

"Kairi?" Sora asked looking around. "I just heard Kairi." The trio looked over to Kairi's limp body. Hercules took the liberty of bringing her up to the top landing. She wasn't moving or showing any signs of life. "Set me free…" Sora said looking back to Riku's key blade. He picked it up and examined it for a moment. He could feel a warm presence in his heart at that very moment.

"_I'll always be in your heart_," Kairi's voice said.

"I know Kairi," Sora said. Kita and Hercules looked at him like he was crazy. They couldn't hear what Kairi was saying. Sora moved the key blade in his hand flipping it in the opposite direction so that the end was facing him. Kita looked nervous. She started to get up and held out her arm to stop Sora from doing anything stupid. But without warning Sora lunged the key blade through his chest. There was a dark glow as Sora doubled over, but from his chest came seven hearts. Six of them floated down below to return to the princesses from which they came. The last hovered above Kairi momentarily before sinking into her chest.

Kita and Hercules watched as Kairi's eyes blinked a few times and opened. Sora was watching too, but with great difficulty. Riku's key blade disintegrated into thin air. "Kairi…" Sora said weakly.

"Sora, are you ok?" Kita asked noticing that Sora didn't look so good.

"Take care of her for me," Sora said weakly. He bent over grabbing his chest as he then collapsed on the ground and disappeared.

"SORA!" Kita shouted, she got up and stood where Sora had just been. "SORA, COME BACK!" Hercules also looked and looked, but Sora was gone. He had disappeared into darkness. Kairi sat up feeling a bit dazed, but she too looked worried.

"What happened to him?" Kairi asked quietly.

"I-I think he went to the darkness," Kita said sounding scared. Though Riku had helped Kita to get back, he had no light left to help Sora. "What are we gonna do?" Kita asked. She picked up Sora's Key Blade. It was engulfed by a blinding light and disappeared from Kita's hand. The three of them looked at one another unsure of what to do, but they were then caught off guard by Ansem's booming voice.

"You think you've won! But just you wait," he shouted from an unseen place. "All of you will fall, mark my words! The Key Blade Master is gone and soon you will be too!" A swarm of heartless suddenly appeared around them.

"Dang it!" Kita said pulling her key blade up to battle. Hercules helped Kairi off the ground and told her to stand behind them. There were only a few heartless, but Kita and Hercules were in bad enough shape and now they had to defend Kairi who had no weapon. "Leave us alone!"

"Don't you guys ever quit?" Hercules asked swinging his sword at a few of them. They merely backed away to avoid being hit. One of them ran between Hercules's legs as he swung again at the others. Kita entered the swarm to take them out one by one. She was angry because of Sora's loss.

The stray heartless bounced around Kairi as she tired to back away. But it didn't seem as though he was trying to attack her at all. She looked at it strangely and then got closer to it. "Sora, is that you?" The heartless bounced up and down, unable to do anything else. Kairi looked at him and smiled. "I knew it was you." Another stray heartless came running up to Kairi and heartless Sora at that very moment. "NO!" Kairi shouted throwing herself over Sora to protect him. Before anything else happened, Sora materialized in Kairi's arms. Kita and Hercules turned to see that Sora had in fact returned.

"Sora," Kita whisper, not sure what had just happened. The heartless around them weren't ready to give up just yet. Sora and Kairi however remained in one spot looking at each other as though nothing else in the world mattered.

"Thank you Kairi," Sora said. He smiled sweetly as she smiled back at him. Within seconds more heartless had arrived, now much bigger and tougher than before.

"Um, we gotta go," Kita said turning her back to the heartless and suggesting to run for it. Hercules was the next to second the idea. Sora and Kairi soon caught on that everything was not safe just yet. They followed close behind. Kita ran down the stairs and saw Ti-Day lying on the ground. She stopped.

"What are you doing?" Hercules asked. "We have to get everyone out of here!"

"I can't leave him!" Kita shouted. She bent down to pick him up. Hercules rolled his eyes seeing no point and so turned to pick everyone who was unconscious up into his arms.

"Sorry bout this guys," Hercules said picking up Simba and Donald, then Goofy and Beast, topping the pile with Pom-Pom. Kita was struggling to lift Ti-Day as the heartless came down the stairs to attack her. She pulled out her key blade to fight them off and buy more time.

"BACK OFF! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Kita shouted as she swung her key blade around and around. Hercules couldn't stand to watch Kita fighting alone and so went over to throw Ti-Day on top of the human pile. Kita then took off running behind Hercules as they headed for the door. Kita however, stopped again. "Go on without me!" she said. Hercules wasn't sure what to do, but he couldn't help if his hands were full. He followed Sora and Kairi through the doorway. With heartless Riku gone, the force field had expired.

Coming out in the dark chapel, Hercules dropped everyone and began sprawling them out again. "Where's Kita?" Sora asked noticing her absence.

"She's still back there, I'm going back!" Hercules said pulling out his sword and heading for the tunnel.

"I'll go too!" Sora said, his Key Blade appearing in hand. "Kairi, stay out here. It's safer. We'll be back, I promise!" Sora and Hercules headed back into the room leaving everyone else in the dark castle chapel. When they arrived, they met yet another unwelcoming scene. Ansem had returned. He had Kita's arm binned in his fist. She was struggling to get away, but had no luck. "Let her go!" Sora shouted.

"No!" Ansem answered. "We have some unfinished business."

"No, please. Lemee go!" Kita said struggling to get free. Ansem raised his arm high in the air taking Kita with him. Six beams of light appeared streaming from the princess' capsules. When they met in the middle over Kita and Ansem, a seventh beam burst forth from Kita's chest. "Ahhh!" she shouted as she bent backwards. The seven joined beams pointed to the dark colorful hole in the wall above.

"Yes," Ansem said. "The door is open."

"NOOOO!" Sora shouted running towards Ansem. But Ansem vanished before he could hit him even once. Kita fell to the floor as her arm was released. She was breathing hard as though recovering from being punched in the chest.

"Let them out," Kita said breathing hard. She pointed to the princesses on the wall. "Please, let them out." Hercules and Sora each took one side of the room to release the princesses. Each one fell to the floor looking beat just as Kita had. A huge amount of power from their hearts had just been used to open the door Ansem spoke of.

"Kita, what happened?" Ariel asked as she lye on the floor.

"Long story," Kita said. "We have to get out of here." Hercules carried Princess Ariel since she had no feet, but the other princesses struggled to leave the room quickly. Kita looked back at the hole.

"I'll take care of it Kita," Sora said. He too was looking at the hole. He proceeded over to it. No heartless bothered to appear as he did so. He stood before it and held up his Key Blade. Just like all the times before, Sora's Key Blade locked the world. "That didn't seem so bad." Sora said returning to the group.

"Maybe that isn't the 'door' he was talking about," Kita said. "He's after Kingdom Hearts."


	33. Sacrifice

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Sacrifice-Chapter 33

Sora, Kita, Hercules, Donald and Goofy were trying desperately to think of a game plan. They knew that Ansem was up to no good somewhere, but Siren was probably doing the same somewhere else. The question was who to go after first. "What about Maleficent?" Sora asked. "She could be around here too, though we haven't seen her in a while."

"Fear not Sora, you have no need to worry about one already dead," came Siren's voice from the set of doors at the opposite end of the chapel.

"You!" Donald shouted rearing and ready to kick Siren's butt.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked cautiously. He was staring down Siren like she was the devil.

"I mean I've already killed Maleficent," Siren said. "Consider it a favor."

"Well then, I guess it's your lucky day," Kita said. "You're next in line! So die already!" Kita darted forward foolishly. She was so focused on taking Siren out, that she didn't anticipate any counter attacks.

"Foolish Kita," Siren said holding out her hand and stopping Kita in a forceful bind. Sora and the others got up and attacked all at once to set Kita free. However, Siren's power was far exceeding anything they had expected. She was able to hold all of them back, but also strangle them by their necks at the same time.

"Stop it!" Kita shouted watching her friends choke. Siren started to laugh at Kita's fetal attempt to reason with death. As she did so, something very sharp cut the back of her leg and everyone was dropped to the ground as Siren was distracted from using her powers.

"Errr, who was that!" Siren said turning to find Kairi behind her holding Ti-Day's scythe. Kairi was looking mad and unafraid, probably unaware of who she was standing up against.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted reaching for her from where he was laying on the ground still rubbing his throat. Siren's eyes seemed to ignite into flames of furry as she made to grab Kairi where she stood. However as she did so, a tiny metal star hit her hand and cut it up badly causing black blood to splatter everywhere. Kairi stood back in shock as Siren cursed in pain.

"Ha! Take that you which!" said Yuffie as she proudly stood before the group. Leon, Cloud, Aerith and Yuffie had managed to find the warriors and were ready to join in the fight. "Thought you could get away with picking on some kids? You're wrong!"

"Thank goodness," Kita said seeing their help arrive. She got up, pulling up Goofy who landed beside her and prepared to fight once more.

"Hmm, let's see. Ten of you and one of me?" Siren said looking childish. "This isn't really fair."

"Too bad Siren!" Sora shouted ready to make a move.

"Actually I meant that it was unfair for you," Siren said smiling. "I could take out a hundred of you!" She lifted her arms suddenly and shouted at the top of her lungs, "NIGHTMARE STORM!" A dark cloud appeared above and started to swoop down over everyone. Some of the warriors chose to run, but the rest knew they couldn't escape and were better off standing in place.

The dark cloud descended over Kita's head and she returned to a very dark familiar place. She was once again trapped in the room with no doors and no windows. Only a small fire in the corner for light and a cold, hard tiled floor. She was breathing hard looking around for a way out. Before her appeared ghostly figures of Riku, Ti-Day and Ni-Ne. "Kita… oh Kita…" Ti-Day's mouth said, only it was Siren's voice that projected.

"STOP IT!" Kita shouted. She closed her eyes and tried to make the scene disappear. "LEAVE ME ALONE! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Siren appeared amidst the ghostly figures. She was standing next to the ghost of Riku. She merely smiled without saying anything and then turned to Riku and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. She leaned in and began kissing him. Kita felt a lurch in her stomach watching Siren. "STOP!"

Siren pulled her lips away from Riku. "Are you jealous Kita?" she laughed. "I thought you didn't care about boys?"

"Its-it's just that, you shouldn't treat him that way!" Kita said getting mad.

"Oh?" Siren said walking towards Kita. "Just to fill you in, I'm winning! I can do whatever I want!"

"No you can't!" Kita said finding a small amount of courage inside of her.

"And why not Miss Smarty Pants?" Siren said looking angry yet unimpressed.

"Because I believe in Ni-Ne, and no matter what you say or do, she's still apart of you!" Kita shouted in Siren's face. "Ni-Ne! Can you hear me!"

"You really are a fool!" Siren said grabbing hold of Kita with her dark force. She dragged Kita towards her, but Kita continued shouted for Ni-Ne. "I'll have to teach you to hold your tongue," Siren said. She closed her eyes and focused hard on hurting Kita.

"Ni-N-! AHHHHHHH!" Kita screamed. The blood inside of her body was quickly rising in temperature. The burning was flooding throughout her body. It felt as tough she was drowning in a pot of hot water from which there was no escape. "AHHH!" Kita continued to scream in such pain. Siren's face was turning red because she was working so hard to boil Kita's blood so much she would burst into flame. Kita was struggling unable to do anything as her blood continued to burn her from the inside out.

"_STOP IT_!" came Ni-Ne's voice from inside of Siren. "_LEAVE HER ALONE_!" Siren suddenly jerked backwards and lost control of torturing Kita. Kita fell to the ground, still burning and breathing hard for relief.

"Let go Ni-Ne!" Siren shouted. The ghostly figures were long gone and Siren was stumbling all over the small room trying to regain control.

"_Never_!" Ni-Ne fought back. She wasn't about to let go and let Kita die. "_You don't control me anymore! You've hurt too many people! I can't let you do it anymore_!"

"Errr, Ni-Ne!" Siren yelled losing her patience and her grip.

"_Be gone heartless_!" Ni-Ne shouted from within. A bright light filled the room. Kita tiredly covered her eyes remaining defenseless on the floor as the light became blinding. As the light faded, Kita found herself back on the floor of the castle chapel. Siren was standing above her looking as though she was about to explode. Within seconds a flood of hearts bursted forth from her chest. One in particular stayed hovering above her. Another quick blot of light radiated from Siren and within the next second she was kneeling on the ground looking worn out.

"Ni-Ne?" Kita asked weakly. Siren's figure turned to face Kita, however it was Ni-Ne's purple eyes staring back, and small tears forming in them. "Thank you for saving me."

Ni-Ne let only a tiny smile cross her face as she then turned and stood up. She reached above her head and took the heart that remained above floating above her. Everyone in the room looked shocked that Ni-Ne had suddenly returned. She had beaten Siren. Sora and Kairi were kneeling together in a corner. Leon and Cloud were standing back-to-back lowering their weapons. Yuffie was catching her breath as Aerith looked curious watching Ni-Ne carry the heart. Hercules was leaning against a wall, worn down by all the battling. Donald and Goofy stood close to one another near the unconscious victims. Ni-Ne slowly approached Ti-Day with everyone's eyes glued to her.

She bent down and looked at his cold face. The tears in her eyes began to flow more as she touched his face. "Ti-Day…" she said. "Ti-Day…" she laid her face on his chest crying, the heart still in her hand. "Ti-Day I'm sorry…"

"Ni-Ne?" Goofy said reaching for her.

"I can bring him back," Ni-Ne said. "But, I'll disappear again."

"What?" Donald asked shocked.

"I'm giving him my life because I let Siren kill him," Ni-Ne said, her tears flowing down her face. "Please tell him that I'm sorry."

"Ni-Ne," Kita said still unable to move from the ground. Ni-Ne looked as though she had made up her mind. As hard as it was to accept, she wanted Ti-Day to live, even if it meant being lost to darkness herself.

Ni-Ne took the heart in her hand and placed it over Ti-Day's chest. She slowly pushed it in. She then leaned over his face. "I love you Ti-Day," she said. She kissed his cold dead lips as she pushed the heart in the rest of the way. A bright blast of light appeared momentarily as Ni-Ne then vanished. Ti-Day's skin started to gain color again. He took a deep breath that caused everyone to jump.

"Ti-Day?" Goofy asked.

Ti-Day opened his eyes and blinked a few times. "What happened?" he asked sitting up slowly. Everyone around him seemed very sad. They were all looking his way, but what caught his attention was Kita who was crying hysterically on the floor. He got up instinctively to join her side to find out what was going on. Kita's body was radiating warmth because of her blood temperature still being so high, but she was rolling around in agony crying. Ti-Day reached out to touch her shoulder feeling her burning skin.

"S-she saved me," Kita cried. "And she b-brought you b-back to life. She didn't deserve to disappear!"

"What?" Ti-Day asked confused. He looked around to the others around the room who were either looking very grieve stricken or crying themselves. "Kita, what happened?"

"Ni-Ne… she brought you b-back to life. But s-she was lost to the d-darkness…" Kita continued to cry. Ti-Day felt a horrible sick feeling come over him. He was scared. Could Ni-Ne really be gone? She had really given her life so he would live? It was too much for him to take in. Tears began to form in his eyes. He pulled Kita up off the floor into a sit and embraced her as they cried on each other's shoulders.

"I can't believe all this has happened," Sora said to Kairi who was on the verge of tears herself. "It's all Ansem's fault… He has to be stopped!" A couple people in the room looked at Sora for his sudden outburst. "Kairi, I have to find Kingdom Hearts. My Key Blade is the only one that can seal it for good. Who knows how many people will become heartless or die if I don't get there fast."

"I understand," Kairi said. "But, can I come?"

"You'd be safer staying here," Sora said. "Besides someone has to watch over the others."

"No worries Sora, it's taken care of," Yuffie said approaching the couple. "Aerith and I will certainly be taking good care of them. If the girl wants to fight let her fight!"

"Ha! See Sora, I can too help out," Kairi said.

"That's the spirit," Yuffie said looking triumphant. "Here, take this." Yuffie handed Kairi a key blade with a cresent moon keychain on the end.

"Hey, isn't that Ni-Ne's?" Sora asked looking at the key blade.


	34. Final Fight

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

Final Fight-Chapter 34

Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness scaled within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness.

_For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one Key to the door._

_The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness._

_Ones born of the heart_

_And darkness, hunger_

_For every heart until_

_The dark door opens…_

Slowly the Warriors of Light approached the gigantic glowing orb watching the specks of light collecting over top of it. There was something eerie about this world despite the fact that it was mysterious and beautiful at the same time. It was definitely cold and lifeless. "This place gives me the creeps," Sora said looking around the vast emptiness around them. "It feels strange here."

"Probably because it's made entirely of darkness," Ti-Day said. "I'm a warlock, I can sense these things."

"Can you sense Ansem in there?" Goofy asked pointing to the glowing orb.

"Something's in there for sure," Ti-Day said. "But to be honest it feels huge." Everyone seemed to tense up knowing there was probably something big and powerful waiting to destroy them upon arrival. The closer they got to the glowing orb, the larger they realized it was. Standing only feet from it was blinding.

"Shall we?" Kita asked covering her eyes. She led the way walking towards the glowing orb. It felt like passing from life into death. On the other side it was dark as night, thick heavy clouds all around. Kita slipped and felt as though she were about to fall, but she remained hovering in place. "What gives?" she asked.

"We can fly," Sora said noticing that without ground below them, they remained airborne. They took a moment to take in this new surprise, but as they floated, a loud roar came from deep within the darkness. "What was that?" Sora asked sounding scared.

"The thing I was telling you about," Ti-Day said. Everyone's attention was drawn to the source of the sound. Some of the clouds floated aside and revealed what looked like a volcano before them. "I don't see anything though," Ti-Day said squinting in the dark. Before he could say another word, the volcano began to move. Its sides split in two and began stretching out to either side revealing a large horned beast that stretched its arms out and roared loudly.

"Oh dear…" Kita said seeing the immense monster in front of them. What had previously looked like sides of the volcano had become the giant beast's wings.

"Oh no! It's the Chernabog!" Donald shouted.

"The what?" Kita asked.

"The Chernabog," Donald repeated himself. "The King banished it from our world long ago because it almost killed everyone!"

"Sounds like we'd better take care of it before it takes care of us," Ti-Day said. He pulled his magic scythe out ready to fight. Everyone else did the same. It would be tough to battle in flight since no one had expert flying experience. Nevertheless, they flew forward ready to battle for all or nothing just to save the universe from Ansem. This was just one of the roadblocks they would have to overcome.

Kita, Sora and Kairi agreed to fly in opposite directions to go behind the Chernabog's head and surprise attack it while it was focused on Donald and Goofy coming from the front. Hercules and Ti-Day took a lower approach and came up right in front of it. Everyone struck at once causing the monster to roar in pain. "Good one! Ok, again!" Ti-Day directed. They kept repeating their tactics again and again until the Chernabog was weak enough to destroy with one final blow. However the Chernabog swung it's arms around and thrashed almost everyone surrounding it.

"Ok Ti-Day, you know what to do!" Kita said weakly as she held her side painfully. She and others flew a safe distance away from the monster as Ti-Day looked it square in the eye and raised his scythe proudly.

"OBLIDERATE!" he shouted as huge explosion occurred causing the Chernabog's head to blow right off. "YEAH!" Ti-Day shouted in victory watching the monster fall slowly before disappearing. A huge heart floated into the air and a solid piece of land was revealed below. "Ok, forward ho!" Ti-Day said flying down towards the volcano shaped cone. Its top was open so the warriors decided just to enter that way. There were several layers of rock they had to weave through in order to reach the bottom where it seemed a tunnel that led further into darkness was located.

Kita was shivering as she walked. She didn't have the sixth sense that Ti-Day did when it came to magic or dark powers, but she could tell this was no safe place. She jumped and let out a small scream as Ti-Day suddenly flung his arm around her. "Scared?" he asked.

"Maybe…" Kita said looking forward, her eyes wide open to scan every inch of the tunnel. She was finding it hard to hide her shaking fear.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," Ti-Day said assuringly. "Just think about it this way, Ansem ruined our lives. He should pay. That should be enough to feed the fire right?"

"But what if I get the perfect opportunity to take him out and I can't do it?" Kita asked. "He's my dad, enemy or not. Can I destroy my own flesh and blood?"

"Well Kita, you may have known him longer than me, but he felt like a father to me too," Ti-Day said. "But when he suddenly changed, I felt like he was a stranger. I thought you felt that too, but when he told you he was your dad, you believed him, and you still do. But the way I see it, there's no way this guy is Ansem the Wise."

"Maybe he's a heartless?" Goofy said. "Riku looked like Riku, but Kita knew he wasn't really Riku. He was Riku's heartless, consumed by darkness."

Kita thought for a minute. Bringing Riku to mind made her feel sad, not better. But Goofy was right about how she felt upon seeing heartless Riku. She could tell just by the way he acted that he couldn't be Riku as stupid and childish as Riku would sometimes act. Was it possible that the Ansem she had believed to be her father was only a dark side of him? And if that were true, was the real Ansem still someplace else? These thoughts, as confusing as they were, brought a small light of hope to Kita's heart. She put her chin up ready to go feeling that there could only be answers ahead.

"Sora, when we beat Ansem, does that mean our home will be back?" Kairi asked as she walked next to Sora.

"I hope so Kairi," Sora said feeling unsure. "I bet everything goes back to how it was before. Everyone will be safe and happy again."

"Even Riku?" Kairi asked. She didn't know much about Riku and his heartlessness, but she did know that he was trapped in the dark realm.

"Yeah, Riku will definitely be ok," Sora said with a smile. The group arrived at a huge cave like room at the end of the tunnel with a strange glowing floor. At the other end was a tiny hole in the wall only big enough for one person to crawl through at a time. "What is this place?" Sora asked. Before he could take another step, tons of heartless appeared within the cave. These heartless were new and very strong. Sora started to back away feeling they'd never be able to destroy them all.

"No! We have to keep moving!" Hercules said shoving Sora forward. "We didn't come all this way to give up."

"Sora, you're Key Blade is the only thing that can seal Kingdom Hearts," Kita said. She looked and sounded just as unconfident as Sora, but she held her key blade shakily forcing herself to fight. She forced a small smile on her face feeling immense butterflies in her stomach as she leaped forward to start pounding heartless left and right.

"Ok Kairi, ready?" Sora asked. Kairi who had little experience fighting looked around at all the heartless.

"Yeah…" she said. "We can do this together." She held up Ni-Ne's key blade and moved forward to join the fight. Sora admired her bravery. Sora too started beating the heartless hovering around him. They were much stronger than any they'd fought so far. Only a few minutes of constant battle and everyone was worn down. They were moving slower and struggling to fight let alone stand.

Hercules who was a demi-god still had not fully recovered from fighting heartless Kita and was really struggling to stay up. Donald and Goofy seemed unnaturally good at fighting heartless with special shield and magical powers they could only have gained from the King. Sora and Kairi were trying their best to fight and protect each other at the same time. Ti-Day was just plain pissed off for the most part, blowing huge amount of heartless to bits constantly only to have new one's replacing them. Kita was fighting an internal battle and an external one which made it hard to concentrate and took a negative effect on her performance.

"Let's just try getting through that hole one at a time!" Kita suggested seeing as how they may not make it out of this fight alive. Ti-Day agreed it might be their only chance. He started moving towards the hole as everyone else tried their best to follow. Sora told Kairi to make a run for it and get through first and so she did. Ti-Day ordered Kita to be next though she seemed reluctant, but eventually did so. Hercules climbed through next and then Donald and Goofy. Sora was still stuck down at the other end of the cave and so Ti-Day had to run to him and help clear the way.

"Come on Sora," Ti-Day said joining Sora's side. "STOP!" The heartless surrounding them temporarily were held in place, but only for a few seconds before they burst into motion again. Ti-Day continued casting the time spell as he and Sora ran down through the middle of room chased by the heartless who had escaped the spell. Ti-Day pushed Sora to the hole first as he leapt through quickly and finally Ti-Day squeezed in just before losing his legs to the angry heartless.

"Wow, I didn't think you guys were gonna make it," Hercules said watching Sora and Ti-Day collapse on the floor. "Sorry I couldn't be more help. I've never felt so worn out in my life."

"Probably my fault," Kita said looking at her feet. "I was a little out of control as a heartless."

"That's not your fault, it's Riku's," Hercules said.

"No… I told you before. That was Riku's heartless," Kita explained.

"Where are we now?" Sora said standing up from catching his breath. The group was standing in a smaller cave-like room. There were a few holes in the top of the cave where sparkling liquid was flowing out and onto mushroom shaped objects. The ground was just as squishy and unreal as the rest of the world was. Before them was a huge set of pink doors.

Kita stepped up to the doors and ran her hand across them. In the back of her mind she heard a voice whisper. '_Beyond lies the darkness. There is no light to be found. This is your last safe haven. Are you really ready to proceed? There will be no turning back._'

"Wah?" Kita said stepping back.

"What?" Ti-Day asked looking at Kita like she was nuts.

"The doors just asked me if I was ready to proceed," Kita said. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy! I swear they did!" Ti-Day stepped up to the doors and heard the voice in the back of his mind before he could even lay a hand on them.

"What do you know, she's right," Ti-Day said also stepping away from the mysterious doors. "We don't really have a choice but to go through them though… I can feel Ansem on the other side."

"Then lets go!" Sora said reaching for the handles. Kita and Ti-Day grabbed his arms and held him back.

"This is our last safe haven," Kita said. "We have to be sure that we're ready to go through."

"I'm really sorry guys, but I don't think I can do it," Hercules said. He was beaten up badly and unlike everyone else, was never really given a chance to rest. Kita let go of Sora and joined Hercules's side. "I'm sorry Kita."

"Don't be, stay here where it's safe," Kita said. "We're gonna beat him. I promise. And then you'll be free to return to your world and see Phil again." Hercules smiled. He had never seen Kita care so much about helping others and making them happy.

"He's really lucky," Hercules said.

"Who?" Kita said cluelessly. "Surely you're not talking about Ansem."

"Nope," Hercules said. "But it's a secret anyway. Good luck in there." Kita got up and walked back to the door feeling confused, but she couldn't linger on the thought.

"Anyone else need to stop here?" Kita asked, making sure.

"Nope, we're all good," Kairi said.

"You sure Kairi? We have no idea what's in there," Sora said feeling concerned for Kairi's safety.

"Yes Sora," Kairi said confidently. "I'd fight along side you to the end." Sora smiled, still nervous, but feeling fuzzy inside knowing Kairi was so caring to help him out. "Ok, let's go!" Kairi said stepping up to the doors. Kita looked back at Hercules and mouthed 'good-bye' as she then turned and pulled on the door handles. At first a blinding light came out, but on the other side was a sandy beach.

"This is Destiny Island!" Sora shouted running through the doors. Kairi follow close behind and the two looked around wildly unable to believe that their island was here of all places. "It looks a little different."

"Man, this place is infected by darkness," Donald said seeing purple and black splotches all around. Parts of the island were broken away and a lot of things were oddly placed. There was no ocean surrounding the island, but only dark auras. Sora ran towards the ocean where some of the land had broken away. He thought he saw someone, and rubbing his eyes realized he was right. Out on one of the broken pieces of island was Riku.

"Riku?" Sora asked. He stood quite still facing the dark endless abyss before him. "Riku!" Sora shouted to get his attention. This time it seemed Riku heard him as he slowly turned around with a smirk on his face. He didn't look happy to see them at all. Rather he looked devilish. "Riku?" Sora asked stepping backwards and looking at Riku confused.

"Ansem!" Kita shouted. Riku closed his eyes and slowly his body faded away and turned into a much taller figure with tan skin and long white hair. He wore a grey coat and black pants and the heartless symbol across his chest. "I thought I smelled a rat…"

"No fooling you is there Kita?" Ansem said smoothly. "You make a far better heartless. Why don't you SUBMIT!" A huge glowing ball of lightening shot towards the warriors, Kita in particular. They all dodged out of the way falling to the not so sandy ground.

"This is between you and me!" Kita said bouncing back up again. She was ready to kill Ansem looking back at all the pain he had brought to her life. She walked forward, unprotected and thoughtlessly. Ti-Day reached out to pull her back, but she was walking too fast to catch. "You're not the same anymore! I don't even know who you are! You stopped caring about your family and you tried to kill me! You only care about yourself and darkness! You've taken so many lives and ripped them apart! I'll bet you don't even know the half of what you've done! I hate you! You're not my father, you're lower than scum! I hate you! I hate you!" Kita's face was so red it could have exploded.

"Kita, stop!" Ti-Day pleaded crawling on the ground to reach her. But he couldn't make it in time. Ansem made another huge ball of lightening and hit Kita directly causing her to fall to the ground in great pain. "Leave her alone!" Ti-Day said picking up his magic scythe. He swung it around and began wildly casting spells. "Lightening! Fire! Blizzard! Obliterate!" Ansem was hit several times, but he was merely knocked back a step or two and then stood proudly once more. A heartless appeared in front of him with its arms outstretched like a shield.

"Did you really think you could win that easily Ti-Day? Fool…" Ansem said laughing. "Surrender to the darkness!" Several balls of dark energy were shot out and flew all around aiming for the warriors. Kairi, Sora, Goofy and Ti-Day were hit while Kita and Donald were lucky enough to be missed, but that didn't mean that Ansem was prepared to give up. He then cast dark lightening bolts down onto everyone of them at once. Kita's back arched as she winced in pain lying on the ground. She still hadn't managed to get up. Ti-Day tried to protect her. He knew there was no going back. They were all in this together.

"THUNDER!" Donald shouted standing behind Ansem. Again he doubled over, clearly struck, but it took little to no effect on his strength. Ansem summoned the dark orbs and lightening all at once. Sora and Kairi chose to try to outrun them. Goofy was able to deflect the orbs and ran towards Ansem. He held out his shield and started spinning like a tornado and hit Ansem directly several times.

"I'm getting impatient with you!" Ansem said. "SUBMIT!" Two identical lightening balls shot out from each of his hands and knocked Ti-Day, Goofy, Donald and Kairi off their feet. Sora hover was just missed down the middle and then threw his key blade at Ansem causing him to fall backwards. This seemed to work a little better than the spells, but no doubt Ansem was still going strong. "So the Key Blade Master thinks he's so tough? Lets see how you fight on your own!" Ansem disappeared in a dark aura.

"Running away Ansem!" Ti-Day shouted as he helped Kita off the ground. Donald quickly gave her some potion to recover from the blasts. The ground began to shake at the island broke apart more and more. A huge round circle of dark power was radiating in the center of the island that left behind a crater. Ansem was floating inside, his shielding heartless right behind him.

"Come and get me Key Blade Master," Ansem taunted. Sora ran forward feeling angry.

"It's a trap!" Kairi shouted watching Sora run for the crater. Sora wasn't listening anymore and so charged forth to challenge Ansem alone. As he did, a force field appeared trapping him and Ansem inside. "Sora!" Kairi shouted in distress. Sora looked at Ansem, knowing full well it he was lured into this fight. Ansem was looking very confident. The heartless that was behind him suddenly disappeared and reappeared grabbing Sora and holding him in place.

"Foolish Key Blade Master," Ansem said laughing. "You'll never make it out alive." Ansem flung his arms forward and two streaks of light shot towards Sora. Because he was being held by the heartless, there was no escaping the attack.

"AHHH!" Sora shouted hit by the attack. The heartless let go and Sora fell to the ground. Kairi and the others were pounding on the force field trying to break through. Sora slowly got up as Ansem laughed at him. He pulled his Key Blade up slowly, hardly able to lift it. He was breathing hard trying to regain focus. "Shut up Ansem!" Sora shouted. Ansem looked angry, but not really threatened. Somewhere in the back of Sora's mind came two words. 'Ars Arcanum.' Though Sora didn't know what they meant, he felt compelled to say them. "ARS ARCANUM!"

Suddenly Sora was launched forward and Ansem looked caught off guard. Once, twice, three, four, five times Ansem was hit with Sora's Key Blade. Ansem doubled over for the first time since he and Sora began fighting. Now looking more upset, he surrounded himself with a dark ball of energy that exploded in all directions. Sora was hit again, unable to predict the speed of the blast. "I'll teach you to mess with me!" Ansem threatened.


	35. In The End

Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light

In The End-Chapter 35

The warriors slowly stepped off of the marble platform upon landing in the Magic Kingdom Courtyard. Queen Minnie and Duchess Daisy were waiting for them inside the castle. Donald and Goofy led the tired bunch to the royal library where King Mickey often studied some of Ansem's notebooks. Queen Minnie was standing patiently inside looking rather sad as the warriors entered. She knew that their struggles had been great and their numbers where now fewer.

"Please, sit and rest," Queen Minnie said pointing out some chairs along the wall. Donald and Goofy took their place next to Duchess Daisy. Kita, Ti-Day and Sora collapsed into some red, padded chairs, their weapons dropped limply at their feet. "Am I to assume the others have returned to their homes?"

"We know that Kairi did," Sora said. "I watched her going. As for the others… I don't know. We left Hercules in that strange world. Simba, Beast and Pom-Pom were still in Hallow Bastion."

"What about Riku and Ni-Ne?" Queen Minnie asked nervously.

"Lost to the darkness," Ti-Day said, his head hanging to the ground. "King Mickey was in there with them." Queen Minnie let out a small gasp as Daisy then put her arm around Minnie's shoulder.

"He spoke of such things. I'm afraid it seems they have come to pass," Queen Minnie said sadly. "I hoped it would never come to this, but there is nothing that can be done now."

"Can they get out?" Kita asked with a small bit of hope.

"Perhaps," Queen Minnie said. "The King was thinking ahead and he knew that locking himself in the realm of darkness could happen. I've no doubt he has something planned." Kita smiled. The though of their friends escaping a cruel fate of darkness was enough to lift her mood even a little. However it was still questionable as to if they would defiantly be able to escape and how long it would take.

"Don't worry your majesty. We'll keep looking for the King!" Donald said energetically. Goofy agreed.

"I'll help too!" Sora said sitting up and holding his arm in the air.

"We'll go!" Kita shouted, joining in.

"Kita, I'm afraid your world is in need of your presence," Queen Minnie said turning to Kita. "With Ansem gone, there is no one there to rule. You must go back and take his place."

"But-," Kita said feeling shut down.

"No buts I'm afraid," Queen Minnie said putting down her foot. "The King has requested it of you." Kita sat frozen for a minute and then slumped down in her seat looking depressed.

"Don't worry Kita, I'll come back with you," Ti-Day said putting his hand on her shoulder. "I am your best friend after all and I know that everything we just went through isn't going to be easy to forget."

"Thanks Ti-Day," Kita said, her head still hanging and sounding disappointed.

"Hey, we can even get back to picking on Leon just to take our mind off things," Ti-Day said sounding unusually excited. Kita cracked a tiny smile on her face that was hidden to most by her bangs.

"I know that you have been through a lot, but the King has asked me to share something with you before you leave," Queen Minnie said. She stepped away to open a chest that had been sitting behind her on the floor. She reached inside and pulled out a vintage picture frame. She carried it back to the group and handed it to Ti-Day. Kita and Sora leaned in to take a look. There in the picture was a man, a woman and a baby. They guessed that this was a picture of a family.

"Who are they?" Ti-Day asked.

"My friends… They are the Nites," Queen Minnie explained.

The group almost choked upon hearing the name. "The Nites? You mean, Ni-Ne's family?" Kita said as she looked at the picture.

Queen Minnie nodded. "Their baby is Ni-Ne. They're her parents. Her father's name is Xander Nite and her mother is Maline Nite. However both their lives ended tragically right after the war, or so we think."

"What do you mean 'so we think?" Ti-Day asked.

"We don't actually have any proof that they died in the war. Their deaths could have been caused by other means still unknown. But Xander, he knew about Kingdom Hearts and Ansem." Queen Minnie explained.

"Wow, that long before all of this happened? I still have one question though," Sora said.

"Yes Sora?" Queen Minnie asked looking at him.

"Which of her parents is heartless? We know that Ni-Ne is half heartless," Sora asked.

"It was her father," Queen Minnie explained. "He was the first human heartless, created from Kingdom Hearts. Xander amazed your father, Kita. The King had much interest in him as well. With so many missing pieces, we decided to keep it secret from everyone. This family secret is still under the Kingdom's protection, it was her mother who requested the protection."

"I have a journal that belonged to Mr. Nite. I know this will come in handy." Daisy said taking out a worn out journal and giving it to Ti-Day. "There are some entries talking about the war, Ansem, the Heartless, and Kingdom Hearts."

"Are you asking for us to start a new quest your highness?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, the king requested us to find clues about the Nite's life and death. And now you have some friends to search for too. I have a terrible feeling this is not the end." Queen Minnie said shaking her head in an unsure way.

Ti-Day looked down and softly caressed the journal. _'This is her dad's journal... Containing everything we know now at this point. Ni-Ne..._' Ti-Day thought to himself. He sighed and mumbled.

"Ti-Day? Are you alright?" Donald asked.

"No... All of this, the Heartless, Ansem, the war, Ni-Ne's lost family... This is too much. I-I can't take it much more of this." Ti-Day said feeling frustrated.

Kita sighed and took Ti-Day's hand. "I know how you feel. We're all feeling this, but we can't stop now." Kita stood up and bowed, "We need to get going... I have a kingdom to take care of. Thank you for everything your highness."

"It's no problem Princess," the Queen said with a smile. Everyone stood up and bowed and headed to the door. Once outside the group gathered around in the courtyard under the night sky. It was rather dark, only the moon in sight.

"What now?" Kita said sighing and sitting down on a rock. She rested her chin in her hands as she gaze up into the starless sky. "Ni-Ne, King Mickey, Riku… They're still out there. A tear rolled down Kita's cheek. "What do you say when you feel so hopeless?"

"When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true of course," said a tiny voice. Everyone turned to Sora and looked at him strangely.

"It wasn't me, it was Jiminy Cricket!" Sora said pulling out a little cricket from his jacket who was wearing a suit and top hat. He took a bow in the palm of Sora's hand before leaping over to Kita's shoulder.

"Where I come from, wishing on a star means your dreams will come true," Jiminy Cricket explained. "No request is too extreme. If you want to find your friends, then wish on a star." Kita's glum look did not disappear from her face as she pointed to the sky to show Jiminy that there were no stars at all.

"Heavens me, where's your faith?" Jiminy said straightening his jacket. Jiminy cleared his throat and began to sing. "Ah hum. _When you wish upon a star, makes no different who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do. Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps and sees you through. When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true_." As he sang millions of stars began flying through the sky; falling stars, shooting stars, twinkling stars and wishing stars alike. Ti-Day tapped Sora on the shoulder and pointed to the dazzling sky. It was as though every person from every world they had come across had thrown stars up into the sky just for them. Donald and Goofy looked up amazed. Kita's face was still buried in her hands.

"Kita? How about now?" Jiminy asked. Kita slowly opened her eyes and looked up. There where now so many stars, she could make a million wishes. She smiled feeling so good inside.

"Thanks Jiminy," Kita said.

"Don't mention it," Jiminy said bouncing back to Sora's shoulder.

"You know, I don't think I can go back to Hallow Bastion now," Kita said. "Even if Queen Minnie thinks I should."

"Huh?" Ti-Day said sounding shocked. "But what about the kingdom?"

"Leon and the others can take care of it," Kita said. "Besides, someone's out there waiting for me."

"Riku?" Ti-Day asked. "I'm sure he can take care of himself. You know we both have a duty to-," He was stopped by Kita's hand over his mouth.

"I know but I have to follow my heart right now," Kita said smiling at him. "Riku's waiting. And what if my real dad is still out there? I have to know! I have to find him if he's still alive."

"Kita…" Ti-Day said with a frown feeling unsure. Kita just keep smiling innocently as she got up off the stone she was sitting on.

"Ti-Day, don't you love Ni-Ne enough to break some rules and go find her?" Kita asked trying to twist Ti-Day's thoughts. Ti-Day looked like he was in deep thought. As the image of Ni-Ne crossed his mind, a smile appeared on his face.

"I would sure love to see her again," Ti-Day said. "I'll be the prince in shining armor she always deserved! I'M COMING TO RESCUE YOU NI-NE!" he shouted ready to go.

"This quest will be fun. So, where are we to headed to again?" Sora asked

"This way!" Kita said darting down a path that went on forever through rolling hills.

"Does that go anywhere?" Donald asked looking at Goofy. The group heard barking coming from behind Kita. Within moments Pluto came running over the hill with a letter in his mouth. He ran up to Kita and handed her the letter.

"Hey, it has the King's seal on it!" Kita shouted waving her arms to beckon the group to follow. "I told you this was a good way to go!"

"Maybe she knows what she's talking about after all, h-yuck!" Goofy said running towards Pluto and Kita. Pluto ran away from the group as they all chased him together.

"Pluto! Wait up!" Sora yelled. Together the Warriors of Light disappeared into the night down a road they could only believe to follow by their hearts that wherever it went, they're friends would be at the other end.

The End

Somewhere…

A man was locked up inside a silver cell. His face was covered with a hood. His body was sitting against the wall of his prison. Another man wearing a black coat came to the cell and walked into the light of the neon glowing bars. The prisoner looked up and stood, then slowly walked toward the figure.

"Why have you trapped me here? What did I ever do to you?" The prisoner asked as he growled with such anger.

"We want something from you," stated the coated figure.

"Well, I don't know how. Now let me out," the prisoner said.

"I cannot do that. We need you here," said the man wearing the black coat.

"LET ME OUT!" the prisoner growled. He touched the neon bars with his hand and shocked himself. He screamed out in pain and jumped back away from the bars.

"Such temper. Keep doing that and we'll have to torture you. Besides, we have information about something dear to you," the coated figure said.

"Ugh... No..." He knelt down and panted. "Tell me!"

"Not that easily. We need you here and we must know how..." the coated man said.

The prisoner growled and slammed his fists to the ground. He snarled, "You and the others are not meant to exist!"

"Is that so? We do have a purpose in this life. We want to be human like yourself," said the man in the coat.

"I won't let you. I'll never tell!" the prisoner said getting angry.

"Fool… Guess I won't tell you what I know. Oh, by the way... she's dead," the coated man laughed.

The prisoner's eyes widened and he quickly looked up to the coated figure. "What? Dead? How do you know! Tell me!"


End file.
